The Boy In The Scroll
by BlueWings900
Summary: After seven years of being sealed in a scroll, Lelouch is finally released. But at what price? Can he escape the curse of the scroll, and what of his sister, and the death of his mother?
1. Chapter 1: Get Rich Quick Plan

I've been attacked by the plot bunnies and this idea wouldn't leave me alone last night. Even had nightmares about it. Honestly! It was horrible, especially when I was trying to concentrate on finals.

Summary: So basically Lelouch has been sealed into a scroll at the age of ten after challenging his father and seeking an audience when his mother died. Seven years later the Japanese rebels find the scroll and unseals Lelouch, but he still has a connection to the scroll that keeps him bound to it and whoever owns it. Lelouch's goal? Find his sister and escape the Japanese man that's in possession of his scroll.

**Disclaimer**: I don't own Code Geass! Duh! if I did, I wouldn't be writing this, now would I? And this disclaimer is for all future chapters, so I don't need to repeat it.

_The Boy In The Scroll_

_Chapter 1: Get Rich Quick Plan _

* * *

'His name was Tamaki Shinichiro and he was about to be rich!' Tamaki inwardly cheered in an announcer's voice. A grin spread across his face as he finally got the chest to open. He spun a paper clip between his fingers cooly, but it was ruined when the thin wire fell from his grasp. His grin flickered into a frown but soon came back full force. 'He was Tamaki! Everything he did was awesome in it's own right!' he mentally crowed.

"He was currently in the basement of one of Britannia's air lockers. The castle was dark and in extreme need of being cleaned, but he could care less, for Tamaki-"

"Oi! Tamaki, we're running out of time. Stop talking to yourself!" The voice was undoubtedly Naoto's.

"Yeah, yeah," Tamaki growled, quickly stuffing whatever he could into the bag he brought with him. So much for his get rich quick scheme. He'd been expecting there to be gold with the way Naoto had explained things to him. "There's nothing in here," Tamaki grumbled as he slammed the chest shut and sauntered on his way out of the locker.

All he managed to grab was a few guns and a sensor or two. Sure he could probably sell the lot of it and make a small fortune, but he'd been aiming for the gold! Not to mention he was Japanese. If the dirty Britts found out he had guns or something as advanced as a sensor, they would have his head on a platter before he could say, "Japanese Rule!"

"Alright!" Tamaki announced in the radio loudly, not seeming to care that he was undercover in enemy territory. "I'm in position for pick up!"

"Sssshhhh! Quit shouting," Naoto hissed and the radio went silent. A few seconds later a dark green pickup truck drove up. "Hurry up. We only have two minutes before the guards round the corner."

"Cool your jets," Tamaki snapped back, but quickly jumped in the truck. He hadn't even closed the door before Naoto slammed on the gas and the truck sped forward. Ugh, Tamaki was going to be sick. He hated Naoto's driving! The car jerked to the right and Naoto sped over a speed bump. Yep, he was definitely going to be sick. Tamaki didn't know how long he was in that cursed carnival ride, but by the time he got out, his legs were wobbly with each step he took. Anyone would trust Naoto with their lives, but when it came to his driving he was the last on anyones list. Who gave their leader the keys to the truck anyway!? Keys to any moving vehicle was a complete 'NO' when it came to Naoto! The only reason why he jumped in the car with no hesitation was because he expected Kallen to be there. At least with her in the truck, Naoto would have been a little more careful with how he drove.

Someone coughed to the side and Tamaki slowly turned to face the person, not trusting himself to move to quickly just yet. He didn't want to meet todays lunch for the second time that day. "Perhaps," started Ohgi, "maybe I should drive," he said to Naoto.

"You would have been too slow," Naoto stated seriously. It had been a long time since he had smiled. The only person who could get a smile out of him was his sister, and even then it seemed strained. "Now let's see the goods," he turned to Tamaki as he led the way into their small base… if it could even be called a base.

Their base had no furniture and the ground was dirt, literally. The base was literally just a steel box turned over to protect them from mother natures elements, and bombings if need be. Off to the corner was small blinking lights that were supposed to warn them if Knightmares neared. Yep, this base was an old relic of what the Japanese had used during the war, but it obviously wasn't enough.

"Ah, you got a sensor," Naoto said, sounding happy but didn't smile. He rotated the object in his hands before moving the other that was similar to the first. "We should set this up near camp," he stated.

'Camp' was the place everyone in the resistance slept. The place was roach infested, but what could you do? Home was home.

"I'll set them around the premises," Ohgi volunteered. The sensors were quickly deposited into his care. "What about the gu-" he cut off when he noticed a red streak across Tamaki's arm. "You're injured! You should have said something sooner! What if it gets infected?" Oghi jumped up, the sensor's now forgotten about and ran to a small first aid kit.

As the second in command scurried to get bandages Tamaki slowly looked down at his bloodied arm. He dimly remembered getting it when he sneaked into the Brit's air locker. From there everything had been a blur for a while until he got to the chest. Odd. He couldn't remember anything from the time he snuck in to the time he opened the chest. Everything in the middle was a fuzzy blur.

Tamaki shook himself from his thoughts as Ohgi knelt next to him.

"Really, you need to take better care of yourself," Oghi scolded. The blood was quickly wiped away, then disinfected was applied and finally a strip of cloth was wrapped around his arm and pinned near his elbow. "It probably need's stitches," Oghi sighed as he assessed his work. It seemed Oghi was holding back on saying that his arm was probably infected.

"It's fine," Tamaki stated and yanked his arm away. "I'll meet you guys back at camp."

Naoto and Oghi watched as their friend stomped away. They both knew why Tamaki was so down, but none of them cared to voice it. It was the same thing all the time. Tamaki was tired of being the henchmen.

"I'll have a talk with him later," Naoto sighed, knowing the ex-teacher would have taken the responsibility upon himself if Naoto didn't say anything first.

Ohgi nodded, "and looks like you got an excuse too. He forgot his bag." Oghi chuckled, knowing his leader hated approaching other people if there wasn't a good excuse for it.

"You aren't going to let me out of this one, are you?" Naoto sighed.

"Nope," Ohgi agreed. Pulling the bag toward himself, Ohgi was surprised to find that something weighed the bag down. He frowned slightly. It wasn't like Tamaki to keep something from them. Ohgi pulled the item out.

A scroll?

The box it was in had intricate carvings in it and was pure white, save for the gold runes that ran across it… and a blood spot that wasn't supposed to be there. The ends of the scroll's rods stuck out on either end of the box. Strangely both ends were pointed and sharp enough to be used as a weapon. Ohgi raised an eye-brow, he hadn't even opened the box yet and he could already tell this scroll was like none he had ever seen before.

Naoto shrugged and leaned in closer to the box. "Well…?"

Ohgi needed no more prompting than that and quickly slid the scroll out. On closer inspection the gold rods seemed to indeed be gold. However it seemed to him that whatever was written or painted on the scroll had lost value. Somehow a drop of Tamaki's blood had ended up on the parchment.

Unraveling the scroll, both men nearly gasped at the beautiful painting. There was no mistaking one of Britannia's gardens, however there was also no mistaking the fact that it was painted by a Japanese. The focus point was obviously a majestic Neko spirit that neither men recognized. However if their Japanese culture was anything to go by, this cat obviously wasn't an evil spirit since it's eyes weren't red… or at least one eye was light blue while the other had been splattered by Tamaki's blood. The cat had a white underbelly while it's back and tail was a striped ebony. It's upper face was also ebony, giving it the look that it had a mask on.

"Wait till Tamaki hears that he just ruined a painting that is most likely worth a fortune," Ohgi joked as he began raveling the scroll back up and placed it in the box.

XXX

Lelouch yawned and stretched his arms over his head as he floated above the two Japanese men. They couldn't see him at all, and up until a couple hours ago he hadn't been able to see them either. Or anything for that fact.

Oh no, Lelouch had never been blind, but he had been sealed within a scroll. The scroll was a completely white void of nothingness. The only thing that existed in the thing was Lelouch's wondering spirit. Or at least he thought he was a spirit, he wasn't quite sure if he was dead or alive. But going by common sense and a bit of Japanese religion, a living person couldn't be sealed into anything, only the spirit. So he must be dead… or something similar to a spirit. Lelouch groaned at the mystery that even he couldn't solve. Not knowing what the heck he was, was bit troubling to the seventeen year old.

For the last seven years Lelouch had no connection to the outside world. His mind was trapped within the scroll, and as such his ability to sense things outside of his prison was limited. The only thing the scroll allowed him to sense was when it was being moved around.

Usually such occurrences were an irritation to the teen. He absolutely hated being jerked around when people moved the scroll. And what was worse, was that such events were always a surprise so Lelouch could never prepare himself for the next sudden movement.

However when that Tamaki man had moved the scroll it had been different. Today he had seen the light of the moon for the first time in seven years. He got to hear the voices of men and was even aware that each bump and jolt he felt was caused by the truck they were in, then later Ohgi and Naoto when they found him- er, the scroll.

"Here," Ohgi said as he tossed the scroll to Naoto.

Lelouch was instantly jolted from his perch above Ohgi, to Naoto. He frowned slightly, couldn't these men be more careful with the scroll? He didn't enjoy being moved around against his will.

"Make sure to give that to Tamaki. Maybe you could convince him to hang it somewhere in his room. The place needs a bit more color," Ohgi continued.

"Sure," Naoto agreed, tossing the scroll up in the air before catching it and stuffing it into a bag.

Ugh, this was worse than the trip overseas! Lelouch could feel an oncoming headache from motion sickness. "I think I'm going to be sick," Lelouch grumbled to himself.

"I'll catch you later," Naoto nodded. "Be back to camp before the sunrises."

Ohgi nodded, showing that he heard but didn't really care as he shooed Naoto away. Most likely wanting to get his best friends on talking terms.

Naoto rolled his eyes as he walked out of base and hefted his bag onto his shoulder. Lelouch groaned at the sudden movement and mentally prepared himself for the long walk back to camp… wherever that was…

***Step**Step**Step* **

Oh dear, Lelouch was definitely going to need a spirits equivalent of Tylenol after this. The older man might have been moving slowly as he was only walking, but it was enough to make Lelouch sick. To him it felt as if the man had decided to drive up a rocky mountain without the right wheels. It was so bum-py!

Lelouch was so concentrated on not falling asleep from the headache, that he didn't even notice when they arrived at camp.

"What a torn up place," Lelouch muttered to himself as he looked up at the dark looking building.

* * *

**A/N:** Did anyone see that foreshadowing that I added in this chapter? Heheheh, I finally pulled it off! Whoopee!


	2. Chapter 2: CRASH!

Woke up this morning and I felt the beginning of a cold, but of course I had to ignore it and went to the beach anyway. I'm such a genius! Now I'm stuck in bed. Ugh.

_The Boy In The Scroll_

_Chapter 2: Crash! (Didn't know what else to name this chapter...) _

* * *

The sun slowly peaked over the horizon and shined upon the ghetto's as fingers of warmth seeped through the holes and cracks of ancient wooden walls. The rays of light lit up the homes of the Japanese but all was many of the Japanese were scared of the foreboding shadows that stretched across their side of Area 11, set by the buildings that towered on Britannia's side of the once proud Japan.

A swirl of mist emerged from the scroll, that hung on Tamaki's bedroom wall, and took the form of Lelouch. The boy yawned as he stared at the streaks of sunlight that filtered through the cracks on the walls. This would be the first morning he would experience in the last seven years! A simple ray of light intrigued the ex-prince as it shined on the back of his hand and spread warmth through his fingers.

Blinking, Lelouch ripped his gaze away from the patch of gold and glanced down at the sleeping man on the futon. He hoped the man could somehow help him. Though how such an idiot could help him, was a complete mystery to him. Hell, the man couldn't even see him!

Damn scroll…

Already getting bored, the teen decided to test the limits of the scroll and proceeded to float around it. Strangely enough, he could somehow go to each corner of the room when he couldn't even get farther than four feet the night before. The only place he couldn't go was outside the room...

Lelouch made to tap the door, and was shocked to find that his hand was no longer transparent. He stared at his hand as if it was the first time he had ever truly seen it. The possibilities! Lelouch floated down until his feet could touch the ground and was shocked to see that he could actually feel the solid ground beneath his feet. Landing both feet on the dirty mats, Lelouch could still feel himself being held up by his ability to float. Severing those bonds, he let his legs take on the full weight of his body and-

**CRASH!**

"Ow," Lelouch muttered as he pushed himself up with his arms, only to find that he didn't have the strength. What the hell!? Struggling like a fish out of water, Lelouch felt the raw heat of embarrassment reach his face. He had never been an active child, but to not even have the strength to pick himself up? It was mortifying!

Lelouch quickly pulled at the same ropes he had severed only seconds ago to help him stand. Once floating, Lelouch looked at Tamaki and was a tad disappointed that the man hadn't woken up at the noise he made. The lack of notice was a sharp reminder that Lelouch was only a wondering spirit.

At least it was still better than being stuck in the scroll all day long. Now that had truly been a horrible seven years and Lelouch had no intention of repeating one of those days again.

He could clearly remember his first year in the scroll. At that time his bindings to the scroll had been strong, to the point where he couldn't even sit or lay down.

It used to feel as though he was locked in a coffin that was standing up. It was suffocating. He couldn't move a single muscle and try as he might, he was to fearful to even think of blinking his dry eyes. His mouth was also parched and his empty stomach had caused a grumble to echo in his scroll. That grumbling along with a screaming echo had been his only companion for the first year of being trapped in the scroll. Talk about horrible company. The monstrous tone wasn't something he would easily forget. It was a miracle that the sounds suddenly stopped one day. It was also that holy day when Lelouch finally found he could float and when his stomach and parched mouth stopped bugging him… well, it was either that or he just got used to the feeling…

Lelouch shook his head. It was almost fifteen minutes later when he blinked out of his thoughts, yet a scowl still rested on his face. He would need to stop thinking about his wasted past and move on.

"You get the left side," a voice said and Lelouch immediately snapped to attention and listened to the voice behind the door. He could hear the padding of two people. Soldiers, by how confident their footsteps sounded and the voice was Britannian judging by the accent.

"Roger," the second voice stated as one pair of footsteps grew distant.

*Click* The first man must have loaded his gun.

"Tamaki if you can hear me, wake up!" Lelouch hissed.

The man slept like a rock.

What a day to be a spirit. If only he could somehow wake the man up… Lelouch floated toward the futon and stared down at the man, though his anger was more toward his own uselessness than anything else. "Wake up!" Lelouch screamed.

Still no answer.

Growling, Lelouch grabbed the nearest thing he could get his hands on, a can of pepsi, and dropped it on Tamaki. Quick as a flash, Tamaki sat up and opened his mouth to scream from the sudden pain, only he couldn't get a sound out because of Lelouch's hand.

So maybe he wasn't that useless after all, Lelouch smirked. "There's soldiers outside," Lelouch alerted Tamaki as he removed his hand from the man's mouth.

"What the hell was that?" Tamaki whispered as he rubbed a hand to his stomach. He looked around his room and saw straight through Lelouch. "Ugh, I gotta lay off those pizza's."

***Bang* **A gun shot went off.

Tamaki snatched his gun and rolled out of bed. The move was sloppy but it showed that he had some training as a soldier. His eyes widened as he moved behind a dresser and loaded his gun.

Deciding that the man was safe, or at least prepared for an attack, Lelouch turned back to the door. Running over all the options he had, Lelouch finally picked the most outrageous choice and reached for the door knob. Unlike twenty minutes ago, he no longer felt the scroll pulling at his spirit to return. Opening the door Lelouch could hear Tamaki whisper something about ghosts, but he paid it no mind as he floated down the hall toward the first voice.

A man wearing a grey vest soon stepped out of one of the side rooms and proceeded to walk to the next room. When he couldn't open the door he shot the lock and quickly stepped in, only to exit when no one was in there.

"I thought this was the terrorist base," the man grumbled.

Lelouch floated after the soldier as he went deeper into camp. Along the way, Lelouch began picking up whatever he could, broken pieces of wood, pencils, a shirt or two, books…

"There's no one here," the soldier continued after a while as he scratched his head and turned around. His mouth dropped open at the sight before him. To him it looked as if the items were floating and he couldn't see Lelouch at all.

Still, the teen would have his fun… Lelouch missed seven years of his life, what else could anyone expect out of him?

He floated, up, down, around, and was very glad to see that the man could see where he was. Or at least where the items were. A simple idea of writing a note to one of the terrorists came to mind and Lelouch quickly filed the plan away for a later date.

For now…

Lelouch quickly threw all his items at the soldier until he was only left with the longest slab of wood. Hefting the item from one hand to the other, Lelouch tapped the end of it to his other hand before taking a few swings at the soldier. However before he could get clear shot, the man screamed and quickly fled the building while shouting in his head set to his partner about the place being haunted.

"How sad," Lelouch muttered. "The elite are scared of a ghost."

Sighing, Lelouch loyally floated back to Tamaki's room as he began to feel the usual tug from the scroll.

As he expected the Japanese man was still cowering behind his dresser while he clenched his gun as if it were his life line. And this was the man that somehow released him from the scroll? I must have been a coincidence.

Everyone needed to have dumb luck at some point. Though considering the soldier from earlier hadn't checked Tamaki's room, the man must have a lot of luck. Or maybe he was just unlucky seeing as Lelouch now 'haunted' his scroll and the fact it seemed as if no one else was at camp while the soldiers infiltrated.

"AAAAAAGGGGGHHHH!"

Lelouch jumped from the sudden noise, and raised an eloquent eyebrow at Tamaki. Puzzled, Lelouch swiveled his head to look at the space behind him and was shocked to see the equally shocked look of Naoto. The man looked out of breath as if he had just run a marathon. Lelouch gave the red head a questioning look, for both his appearance and Tamaki's sudden out burst. When all he received from Naoto was a confused look that mirrored his own, Lelouch turned back to Tamaki.

"Are you okay?" Naoto gasped as he shook away his confused look.

"Wha-what?" Tamaki stuttered and opened his mouth as if he had more to say. Tamaki was holding the rolled up scroll in one hand while the clutched his gun.

"You can see me?" Lelouch whispered, almost scared that if he talked to loud he would somehow disappear.

"I saw a couple Brittanian soldiers running from this direction," Naoto continued.

Tamaki dropped the scroll, and Lelouch felt himself drop several feet from the air. He scowled slightly at that. It seemed as if the leash the scroll had on him, shortened again. "Ehhhh?!" Tamaki's eye's widened.

"You can see me?" Lelouch repeated, though it was more of a statement. Tamaki was definitely staring at him.

"But you were the only one on base, so everyone's fine," Naoto said, as if to reassure the man. "You're okay though… right?"

"What? Of course! What do you think I am? Some idiot?" Tamaki ranted. "Of course I can see you!"

"What?" Naoto cocked his head to side at the last statement. "What are you talking about?"

"The kid thinks I can't see him," Tamaki stated and jabbed his thumb at Lelouch.

"What kid? There's no one there," Naoto said as he gave his friend a worried look. More than likely worrying over Tamaki's mental health.

"He's right there," Tamaki pointed at Lelouch.

"Who?"

"HIM!" Tamaki said and stretched his arm toward Lelouch as he continued pointing.

Didn't he know pointing at people was rude?

Naoto looked toward Lelouch's direction but as expected his eyes landed on nothing. "No one is there," Naoto said, turning back to Tamaki.

"He's right there!" Tamaki screamed, his finger still pointing at Lelouch as he began to shiver slightly.

"I was sealed in the scroll, of course he can't see me," Lelouch stated. "Your blood must have allowed you to see me." _And released me… somewhat. Though why you couldn't see me earlier was a bit troublesome._

As he said thought this, Naoto's eyes widened. "Tamaki, I can see him."

* * *

**A/N:** Futon is Japanese bed for those who don't know. And another thing, did anyone catch the use of the word 'kahuna' by Tamaki in one of the Code Geass episodes? I'm not sure how many of you caught the joke since the english meaning is shaman or wise man, but in Hawaiian it means that plus something totally different depending on the context. Couldn't help but laugh that they used a Hawaiian joke XD

Reviews? Please?


	3. Chapter 3: Butler Lelouch

**A/N: Sorry for the wait guys, some relatives came over and I had to play 'errand boy' for my dad, and well... you know how that works ^^; But hey, it's longer then the last chapters. **

**The Boy in The Scroll**

**Chapter 3: Butlers **

* * *

A fortnight passed, and Lelouch found himself happy to be living with the Japanese terrorists… or at least as happy as one could be living in the same room as Tamaki. The man snored loud enough to shake the entire building! Even in the confines of the scroll he could still hear the loud grumbling. Lelouch truly pitied the soul that inhabited the room next door.

However besides the irritating roommate, everything was settling fine for the ex-prince.

The first few days had been very hectic since Tamaki and Naoto didn't know exactly what to do with him. Much to his chagrin they even hired an exorcist to try be rid of him. There was a lot of holy water involved, circles, enchantments, prayer, salt, even a cross was used. In the end the exorcist said he was a guardian of the scroll and wouldn't do it's holder any harm. The exorcist even said it would be a good idea to make offerings to Lelouch to get on his good side… Now that had been quite alright… In Lelouch's book… Tamaki and Naoto on the other hand were livid at the extra mouth to feed.

_(And they didn't need to know that Lelouch hadn't touched the offered food yet. He more often than not brought the food with him -whenever he could feel the binds loosening- to feed the poor Japanese families that couldn't get or make their own food.)_

After Tamaki and Naoto finally counted their losses they finally sat down with him and had_ The Talk. _

It went something like this…

_"Your job will be to help me win at poker." That was Tamaki. _

_"And you'll be our spy." This was Naoto. _

_"You'll help me pick up the girls." _

_"Follow my orders." _

_"You'll be my partner in magic tricks. Make things float, crack, disappear…" _

_"Don't allow any Britannia's to see you." _

_"You'll be my wingman!"_

_"Our trump card." _

_"…"_

_"BUT NO MATTER WHAT DON'T TOUCH MY/HIS SISTER!" Naoto and Tamaki said at once. Naoto glared at Lelouch while Tamaki looked nervously from Naoto to Lelouch as if silently telling his new 'wingman' not to mess with his leader. _

Shaking his head from his recent memories, Lelouch silently chuckled. He hadn't seen Naoto's sister yet, and even if he didm he doubted she could see him. Plus Lelouch also had a sister, so he knew exactly how Naoto felt.

"Ohgi has a royal flush," Lelouch announced before it was Tamaki's turn to bid.

The red head growled silently and glared at Lelouch as if it were his fault he was currently loosing. "I quit!" Tamaki stated in a huff and threw his cards on the table before walking away. Once he was far enough from prying ears he rounded on Lelouch. "You're supposed to help me win, not lose! I just lost a hundred credits because of you!"

"Then I suggest you consider playing another game that I'm more skillful at," Lelouch countered cooly. "And wouldn't it be better to win new money instead of winning the money from your own comrades? I recommend a casino."

"I'm Japanese, not a Brit! The chances of them letting me in is zero!" Tamaki stated. "Besides the arcade is rigged."

"You could always say you're there to put on a show for the entertainment," Lelouch said, it was the first thing to come to mind, but as long as it shut Tamaki up, it would do.

"…That might actually work…" Tamaki said. "I'll get paid, and it'll also give me a chance to spy on the nobles…"

Lelouch kicked back, as he hovered above Tamaki as the man continued to mutter a few random words having to do with his plan. It was times like these when he wished he could be with Naoto instead. However when the scroll wasn't magnetically pulling him, it was Tamaki. Somehow his leash was attached to both the scroll and Tamaki… Lelouch could only guess the reason behind this was because of the blood on his scroll.

The blasted blood ruined Lelouch's scroll! Lelouch didn't understand why he was so upset about the scroll getting ruined, if anything he should be glad, but something pulled on his mind; telling him to be upset that his 'home' was tainted with blood and to be protective of his home.

"Make me a sushi would you? I need to get a few things," Tamaki said suddenly, knocking Lelouch from his thoughts.

This lazy man! "Fine, I'll make you an onigiri," Lelouch said, knowing that arguing with the man was pointless.

"I don't want a rice ball!"

"There's not enough ingredients to make anything else," Lelouch stated. _Plus I don't know how to make much else… _

"I want three," Tamaki shamelessly waved three of his fingers in front of the boys face.

Waving a hand to show he heard, Lelouch allowed the familiar tug to pull him to the kitchen. Once there he easily began the process of shaping the rice into triangles.

His hands moved in a rhythmic silence allowing his mind to drift off into thoughts. After being trapped in the darn scroll for so long, Lelouch had grown accustomed to letting his thoughts consume his whole world. Even now that he is out of the scroll he still enjoyed blocking out the rest of the world… especially when he's making Tamaki onigiri. Yes, it was better to think of useless things rather than concern himself with exactly why he was Tamaki's personal butler.

Just one more, and, there, done.

Packing the onigiri into a box, Lelouch floated back to Tamaki and deposited the box on the desk. The man was currently riffling through his messy closet as he searched for God knows what.

_Probably something to use for a magic trick,_ Lelouch mused. Though why Tamaki would need a specific item when he had Lelouch was a mystery.

Lelouch sighed as he took a seat midair by the window. The glass was cracked and it was dusty in all four corners. It was amazing he could even see out of the filthy window as it was.

Below the building that was 'camp' a young girl, perhaps the same age as Lelouch, ran toward the entrance. She looked a lot like Naoto with her blue eyes and mane of red hair; which was only a few shades lighter than Naoto's. The girl was dressed in a Britannian school uniform complete with a tan brief case. Lelouch watched as the girl snuck around the corner before slipping into the entrance.

"Kallen! What are you doing here?" Ohgi's voice drifted down the hall.

Ah, so he was correct in assuming she was Naoto's sister.

There was a slight shift of clothes before Lelouch heard an answer. "I don't want to go to school." The way she said it almost made Lelouch chuckle, he could almost see the girl sticking her nose in the air at the thought of going to a school filled with 'Brits.'

"But your brother-"

"I don't care what Naoto says! I don't understand why he won't let me join the resistance when I'm the most skilled pilot! Besides I hate school. The Britannian's are stuck up!" Kallen argued. "I want to fight for our country! Not disgrace my people by pretending to be someone I'm not."

"You're education is important," Ohgi stated.

Lelouch shook his head and turned his attention back to Tamaki. He couldn't relate to that girl at all. As a prince he never needed to go to school, even before being sealed, his education was dealt by his private tutors and his mother. If he was still a prince he might have gone to high school overseas. He remembered Euphie used to always talk about how much she wanted to go to school… who knew, it might be a fun experience.

Though the way Kallen talked of it made it seem like a horrible place to be...

"Do you need help?" Lelouch asked Tamaki after a while. It hurt to think of what could have been.

The man shook his head, a stubborn scowl set on his face. Lelouch could imagine Tamaki wearing that same scowl if he were in a room full of Britannians.

Lelouch could understand why the Japanese hated Britannia. Even he, a prince of Brittania, hated his own country. The very core of the country was corrupt. The discriminating, power hungry Nobles only cared about their own gain. They could care less about who had to suffer in order to get it. It was disgusting in Lelouch's book. His country was so corrupt that the people would even go as far as to kill another soul.

It was a place so sickening that a man could throw away his own son to the dogs and never give a damn what happens to his own child. Lelouch was lucky though. Despite being a spirit of sorts, at least he could say that he went against his father. At least he never got old enough to become apart of the political games and the underhand treason against his other siblings to gain the throne. He loved his siblings dearly.

Nunnally, his kindhearted sister who was always patient and understanding. Euphemia who was always so naive and opened minded to everything around her and was always reckless. Euphie was the exact opposite of Cornelia who was cold hearted and feared showing her real emotions around anyone but Euphemia, but Lelouch loved her nonetheless. Then there was Clovis who had a thing for art and sucked at chess. Lelouch always thought his brother would become a flamboyant play boy when he got older. And of course Schneizel who was his rival at chess and was always charismatic and calculating. Yes, no matter their differences, Lelouch loved each and everyone of his siblings and could never have dreamed of fighting either one of them for the throne.

However now- now he saw the corruptness of Britannia, and although the death of his mother had happened so long ago, Lelouch could still remember his first thoughts of the event. Those men had not been terrorists but hired arms from Britannia who had killed his mother. He had no reason to hate people who were non-Britannians. But he had all the reason to hate his own people who had killed his mother and sealed him in the scroll. Not only did they abandon him, but they showed no kindness to the numbers.

Lelouch vi Britannia is going to _obliterate Britannia! _You reap what you sow. An eye for an who kill should be prepared to be killed. It was only common sense that he would want revenge, for both his mother and the numbers.

With that purpose in mind, Lelouch turned to Tamaki. "Maybe we should hold off on the magic show," Lelouch said. Seeing that he got Tamaki's attention he continued, "it wouldn't be safe if you went to a Britannian casino since they might arrest you. You know how they are, act first, ask questions later. They'll probably kick you out or sell you to a Noble before you even get on stage."

Tamaki thought on it for a while before frowning at Lelouch, "I knew that," he stated, as if Lelouch was doubting his intelligence. "I'm trying to clean up this closet," he said, trying to cover up the fact he really had been trying to prepare for the magic show. "Who would be dumb enough to go into one of those Casinos without a license, anyway? I was just saying that it would be a good idea when the opportunity comes."

"I see," Lelouch ignored his lie. "If you don't mind, I'll be floating around town to get some intel on the nobles."

"Report to me first!"

"Of course." Lelouch nodded, not really planning on reporting to the idiot, before sprinting/floating out of the room.

He had a lot of things to prepare if he wished to make his goal a reality.

XXX

Kallen frowned as she heard two voices coming from the direction of Tamaki's room. One voice was definitely Tamaki's, but the other she didn't recognize. It belonged to a boy, judging from the pitch he was probably around the same age as herself and had yet to reach puberty.

"You okay Kallen?" Ohgi interrupted her thoughts and tilted his head to the side in worry. "You just zoned out."

Shaking herself, Kallen glared at Ohgi. just like all the other's he was always worried about her well being. Even the simplest thing as rubbing her nose would cause everyone to pause and ask if she was okay. When would they start treating her like an adult, damn it! She was already 17 years old, for crying out loud! It was all her brother's fault! He always treated her as a child, and as such everyone else treated her like the reckless ten year old girl that used to draw pictures of her brother and all his friends. It was frustrating! She was the best knightmare pilot out of all the rebels, but was still seen as a child who needed protecting!

"Hey, I was just asking. You're-"

"Important to Naoto," Kallen finished for him and rolled her eyes. "Yes, I know and I'm fine. I was just wondering who Tamaki was talking to."

Ohgi's eyebrow's knitted in thought. "He's been talking to himself lately… I think he's trying to cope with the infiltration that happened a couple weeks ago. He was the only one at camp when the Brittanian's came here."

"But there was another voice."

"That's Tamaki's voice…"

"It sounded like a teen's voice though," Kallen stated then went back to glaring at Ohgi. "I swear on the name of Japan, that if I find someone who's allowed to fight in the resistance, that's my age, then I'll- I'll… well I'll do something unpleasant and force you _and_ Naoto, to let me fight for my country! If someone my age can fight in the resitance, then I want to fight too."

"There's no teen's here, just you. Speaking of which, school's going to start soon! You should get going. Education is important."

"Yeah but-"

"Now," Ohgi ordered, in full teacher mode.

"Fine!" Kallen stomped out of camp. She had no intention of going to school today, instead she was going to check up on her brother.

* * *

A/N: Done!

**Pairings for this story:** You won't be seeing a lot of just one pairing. Since the anime was never specific with who Lelouch liked-Shirley, Kallen, C.C.- I won't be picking just one person to be with Lelouch. In which case it's ShirleyXLuluXKallen (If you're reading this congrats! You just learned that C.C. won't be appearing in my story... much) However since Lelouch will be staying with the Black Knights a lot, you will be seeing more LuluXKallen. I also understand that there are many SusakuXLelouch fans, and yes there will be brotherly love between them... I suppose... honestly I'm not good with romance so the pairings won't be affecting the story as much as the other things I have planned for it.

**ChuChuChi: **... another spoiler in one authors note? Hmm... well to answer your question yes, and no. It's hard to say without giving it away. You'll find out within the next two chapters though XD


	4. Chapter 4: VP Challenges

**A/N: Shout out to Scoobford for betaing this for me! **

**Boy In The Scroll**

**Chapter 4: VP Challenges **

* * *

_This is nice. _A soft smile reached Lelouch's lips as he idly looked at the surrounding area. It wasn't the beautiful Britannian city, but to Lelouch even the ghetto was heaven. Anywhere was better than the scroll, even jail! At least there he would have the police and criminals as company. Lelouch sighed, the scroll was safe, in the scroll nothing could possibly harm him… or at least that's the false sense of security he always felt when around the scroll. Shaking his head, Lelouch floated toward the Britannian's side. He had more concerning things to deal with right now! Like getting people to see him and reaching his goal to destroy this pathetic country!

Over the course of the past two weeks, Lelouch discovered that while he could pick things up and make them appear as if it were floating, he couldn't make them invisible like himself. However if he were to wrap his entire hand around an eraser no one would be able to see it. Likewise, if he were to take off his coat and wrap it around something no one would see it, well no one except Tamaki and Naoto. Regardless, even if the item was invisible, it would still have it's mass and density making it so that people could still touch it. Lelouch wasn't so lucky, he couldn't be touched no matter how much he wanted it, even his shirt can't be touched and anyone who tries would have their hand go straight through it… unless you were Tamaki or Naoto.

Those two men were a paradox in and of themselves. Lelouch just couldn't figure it out. Tamaki's ability to see him was quite understandable, but Naoto's? That man couldn't see him at all when Tamaki had first tried pointing out Lelouch to him… or was it after Tamaki had pointed at Lelouch? If this theory was correct then all Tamaki would have to do is point Lelouch out and someone would see him! It was brilliant! Why hadn't he thought of it before? But no, that wouldn't work. Tamaki did point at Lelouch a few times before anything happened. So that wasn't it.

Ah, what did he care anyway? For all Lelouch cared he could use his handicap to his advantage. Besides just because other people couldn't touch him, didn't mean he couldn't touch them. If Lelouch wanted he could punch someone in the face and get away with the crime unscathed, or he could reach his hand through someone's stomach to grab something the person was blocking… though if he did that he wouldn't be able to make it intangible and bring it back though that person's stomach.

Lelouch smiled as he stopped before the first convenience shop he laid eyes on. It was on the border of the ghetto's but it would suit his purposes just fine. He wasn't looking for any high quality clothes, those could come later. He just needed something to cover his ghostly condition.

Thirty minutes later Lelouch floated out of the shop with his coat acting as a bag to carry all the items he found useful. It took another five minutes to find a secluded alley way and another five minutes until he walked out with his new getup.

Lelouch now wore a white turtleneck under a grayish black denim jacket. His steel grey pants which are a size to big were folded a few times before reaching his black shoes. To cover his invisible hands, Lelouch stole a pair of black and red bikers gloves, and for his face he had bandages. Thanks to his too-big-clothes, anyone who saw him would believe he has a rather large body that's fitting for a weight lifter. Lelouch sighed as he tugged on the sleeve of his jacket. Perhaps next time he would consider trying them on first. To finish his outfit he slipped on a pair of glasses and a cap which he pulled down to cover most of his face. If anyone asked, he could say he was struck by tragedy and survived a fire.

Making sure to keep both feet on the ground, Lelouch didn't sever his bonds to his ability to float; he didn't want a repeat of last time. Instead, he made sure to move his legs, as one would when they walked. The movement looked unnatural and stiff but Lelouch could always wave it off by using his fake injury as an excuse.

It was taking all his willpower to not float in the air! Ugh! It felt like he was pulling all of his leg muscles! Lelouch should have practiced before going into town. At least this answered his question of whether or not he would be able to move with his own strength… though knowing his lack of fitness that would take another seven years to accomplish.

Who would need any physical strength or stamina when they could float? Certainly not Lelouch. He could probably pick up an elephant if he wanted!

Once the pain dulled somewhat, Lelouch ventured farther into the Britannian city. First stop would be Ashford Academy.

_That _day, seven years ago had been the second worst day of his life. Second only to the day when his mother died and his sister became crippled. He hated _that _day with a passion. It was the day his father showed his true colors and admitted that he never cared for Lelouch or Nunnally. It was also _that_ day when Lelouch was sealed into the scroll. However one good thing happened; old man Ashford offered to take Lelouch and Nunnally under his wing.

Unlike all the nobles that rushed at the idea of adopting royal siblings, the Ashfords had no wish to use them for political gain. In fact the day Lelouch's mother died, instead of asking if Lelouch would like to be adopted by them, they were instead more concerned about the loss of Lady Marianne. It wasn't until Lelouch challenged the emperor's authority did they offer to take him in. They didn't try talking of their family's status, or what they could offer him, and that's what made Lelouch decided that he would be going with the Ashfords… well, he would have if that woman didn't seal him into the scroll.

Still, even if things didn't go as planned Lelouch still owed a lot to Old man Ashford. The man offered him a home and with it hope. Plus it was always fun to see what new event Milly came up with. That girl was always fun to be around.

Smiling, not that anyone could see it with all the bandages, Lelouch entered the gates of Ashford Academy.

"Milly Ashford here!" a singsong voice sounded through the intercom and immediately the students around Lelouch all looked up. "We have a new challenger here to take the place as Student Council Vice President! The game begins during lunch, today's challenge is truth or dare! Please send in your truths or dares to the student council room before then! The challenger is~ Conor Meyer!" The intercom turned off and immediately the school started bustling.

"Another one! And it's Conor!" one student said.

"That nerd's never going to become the vice president," another laughed.

"That positions haunted!"

"What are you going to put for the dare?"

"We should make him kiss someone!"

"Oh-oh-oh! He should strip!"

"I'm going to video tape it."

"Aw, I'll need to skip class if I want to watch it!"

"This'll be even better than the last time someone tried for VP."

Lelouch turned to the person who said that. "What happened last time?" Lelouch asked.

The teen who was obviously apart of the gardening club turned to Lelouch with a wide grin on his face. He looked to be just on the verge of laughing. "The prez took Sammy to a well known restaurant and had the student body set up pranks around the entire building while she ate and talked to him about what his job as the VP would include. Whatever she was saying must have been horrible but not as bad as what happened after!" the teen burst out laughing and clutched his stomach. He gasped for breath and said, "Sammy get's nervous whenever people talk fast, so to hide it he would take zips of his drink. He had to got to bathroom so bad but the pranks…" the boy broke out laughing and everyone around him followed as he shook his head and collapsed onto the ground, unable to finish his sentence.

Lelouch raised a confused eyebrow. That didn't sound 'better' to him, it sounded horrible! "Could you point me in the direction of the student council room?" Lelouch asked and the teen before him -still laughing- pointed toward the left. "Thanks," Lelouch said with a nod as he began walking in that direction.

The human psyche was amazing. Being invisible, Lelouch practically didn't exist. People couldn't touch him because they didn't believe he was there. The same went with hearing him. If they didn't believe he was there, they wouldn't be able to hear him even if he yelled. However now that people could see him, their brains registered that someone was there, and therefore they could now hear everything Lelouch said. It was also possible that they would be able to touch him as long as he allowed it and willed them to.

Nearing the door to the student council room, Lelouch slowed down and peaked through the door that was opened a crack. It was a large conference room with a round table in the middle. To one corner was green haired spectacled girl typing furiously at a computer. Toward the back was an orange haired girl who looked to have just come back from swimming as she had a pair of shorts over a blue bathing suit. She was talking to a blue haired boy who was making wild arm motions. Then in the middle, standing before the round table was Milly Ashford.

"See Suzaku?" Milly said, talking to someone who Lelouch couldn't see due to the door. "There's nothing to worry about. Conor won't be taking your place as Vice President. Have you seen the dares everyone has been turning in? He'll be running like the last person before you can even blink."

"I guess," came a male's voice, sounding a bit uncertain. "But I feel sorry for him. Maybe I should let someone else have the position already. Or we should at least tell the student body."

"Don't be ridiculous!" Milly said. "You've been my Vice President since the start! Besides the rumors going on about how your position is haunted is just juicy! She cheered as she elbowed Suzaku. "No one would ever guess an honorary Britannian is the VP, and you know what would happen if they found out!" now she sounded serious as her eyes narrowed in a playful way.

"Okay, okay," Suzaku consented. "But only because I have no choice."

"You make it sound like I'm forcing you!"

"Well technically-"

"Excuse me."

Lelouch turned, his attention broken from the soft voice that came from behind him. Lelouch gasped as he looked down at the crippled, blind girl in a wheelchair. She survived! His sister survived! And she made it to the Ashford's!

"Nunnally."

* * *

**A/N:** Not much to say here... erm, how did you guys like this chapter?


	5. Chapter 5: Just the beginning

**Boy In The Scroll**

**Chapter 5: **

* * *

_"Nunnally," _came Suzaku's voice.

"Hi, Suzaku," Nunnally said in a sweet voice and Lelouch turned back to the now open door that revealed the teenage Eleven who was apparently the vice president of the student council. Suzaku was a few shades darker than Lelouch and his hair was darker than Nunnally's brown. The eleven glanced at Lelouch with his emerald eyes before taking a position behind Nunnally's wheelchair as if to roll her in.

Lelouch was instantly hostile. Who the hell was this boy being so familiar with _his _sister?! If Suzaku dared do anything to Nunnally, he would be a dead man in the next minute!

"Oh, who's this?" Suzaku asked. He tilted his head to the side as if he were just then realizing that Lelouch was blocking the door to the student council room.

"Ah sorry," Lelouch said as he raised a hand for a firm shake. None of his hostile thoughts were present in his voice. "I'm Oliver William," Lelouch said the first name that came to mind. "And you are?"

"Suzaku Kururugi." So he has a last name! Perfect. If need be, Lelouch would do some research on the boy to ensure that Nunnally was safe from his filthy hands. Though if his memory was correct the last prime minister of Japan was also a Kururugi, Genbu Kururugi if he was correct.

"It's nice to meet you Suzaku." Lelouch ended the firm handshake, almost grateful that he was only a spirit. It felt like he just shook the iron hand of a Knightmare!

"Suzaku," Milly called and popped her head out the door. "Who are you talking to?" she asked as her eyes fell on Lelouch. At first she had a look of someone looking for the latest gossip, but upon seeing the bandages there was a quick flash of pity before it disappeared. "Hi, I'm Milly Ashford. What brings you here?"

"Sight seeing," Lelouch answered. "I came from the homeland and arrived at Area Eleven a few days ago. I heard about Ashford Academy from a family friend and decided to visit the campus… I hope it's no trouble."

"Trouble? Of course not!" Milly shouted with her usual high voice. "Would you like a tour around the campus?"

Lelouch smiled at the girl, "no, don't trouble yourself. I was just about to leave anyway."

"Aw," Milly frowned, as if sad her offer got declined. "How about area Eleven then? The rest of the student council and I could show you around. You said you just got here a few days ago, and by the sound of it you're by yourself. It's always better to be with someone."

"I don't want to be a bother…" said Lelouch.

"You aren't a bother. In fact it's the student council's motto to personally give anyone a tour!" Milly declared.

Just then the other three student council members peaked around Milly to look at Lelouch. "Since when has that been our motto?" the blue haired boy asked.

"Oh shush you!" Milly growled while playfully shoving the boy away.

"That sounds like a great idea Madam President!" the orange haired girl said. "I'm Shirley by the way, that's Rivalz."

"Yo."

"And this is Nina."

"N-nice to m-meet you."

"The pleasure is mine," Lelouch gave a slight nod to all three. "I'm Oliver."

As soon as the name slipped his mouth, Lelouch found himself being shoved toward the gates of Ashford Academy and into the streets of the Britannian city. Arms linked between Milly and Shirley, Lelouch had no choice but to follow both girls as they gave him a tour of the city. Rivalz walked ahead the three of them, with his arms crossed behind his head as he chatted up a storm about nothing in particular while Nina silently walked besides Milly. To Lelouch's chagrin Suzaku had made up some excuse of getting Nunnally to her room, and that's how Lelouch got stuck with three complete strangers.

As the day passed by Lelouch learned quite a lot about this little group. Nina, although shy, was rather smart. If given the chance she could talk just as much as Rivalz, though she did stutter over her words from time to time as if afraid that someone would shout at her for speaking her mind. On the other hand Rivalz could talk to anyone about practically anything, it was also very obvious that he had a thing for Milly. Out of all of them Shirley was probably the only one who tried to slowly get to know Lelouch. She asked him questions from time to time, and would often go out of her way to involve him in the rest of the student council's conversations. Lelouch was very thankful for her, if not for Shirley, he would probably feel out of place among the others.

The five of them walked a good distance. Traveling from mall to mall and one tourist attraction to another. They only shuttle twice, everything else was done on foot. By the time sunset rolled around, Lelouch and Rivalz where both piled down with bags and box's that the girls had bought. Even the shy Nina asked Lelouch to carry several of her bags.

"And that ends our tour of the city," Milly stated once they got back to the gates of Ashford Academy. "If you ever want to hang out again or have nothing better to do, you know where to find us."

"I'll be sure to swing by later," Lelouch said as he set the bags down. "Well, I best be off now."

As soon as he was out of view from the student council, Lelouch immediately stripped himself from his outer layers and shot into the air. Dear scroll, his legs were killing him! It felt like his muscles had been stretched between two monster trucks going the opposite way, before being thrown into the sun, and returning only for the cycle to repeat itself. During the entire tour, Lelouch found himself in a battle of willpower against pain. Every molecule of his being screamed at him to simply float and not force himself to 'float walk,' but being the sensible man that he was Lelouch forced himself to keep up the act of a totally normal seventeen year old. Granted a burnt seventeen year old, but still normal.

Lelouch sighed in content as he felt the scorching pain slowly diminish into a cooling burn. Leaning into a comfortable position that would have looked as if he were sitting on a throne with a leg rest, Lelouch mentally searched and pulled at the familiar binds of the scroll. Another sigh escaped him as he was finally able to relax. The tug of the scroll doing all the work for him.

What a tiring day. Eyelids drooping shut, Lelouch soon drifted off into the bliss of sleep.

x-XXX-x

A drop of rain fell on Kallen's face and she shook her head. The sun was already hovering over the horizon. Threatening to send the world into darkness before Kallen could get to shelter. But shelter was the last thing on her mind at the moment. Another drop of rain splashed on her face and Kallen found herself cursing her horrible luck as she ran toward an abandoned building. Part of the roof was missing, leaving only the four cracked walls and a small corner of the roof for shelter. It was better than nothing.

Sighing, Kallen took out her phone. The minute she turned it on, the screen showed a poorly taken picture of a planner. Naoto's planner to be exact. Her brother was always careless with his things, although he scheduled things like a professional he was also quite a messy man. It was one of the things she loved about her brother, but that's not what she was concerned about at the minute.

Enlarging a part of the picture, Kallen squinted her eyes as she tried reading the writing and deciphering the sketched map. It was obvious that her brother had somewhere to go but she just couldn't read the blurry words and directions. She shouldn't have rushed so much while taking the picture.

Either way, Kallen was almost positive that her brother was planning on intercepting one of the Britannia's food shipments. Naoto was almost like the modern version of Robin Hood in that way. Steeling from the rich and giving to the poor. However it was still a dangerous job and recently the Brits had become more cautious.

Kallen slipped her phone back into her pocket and darted back into the freezing rain. She was immediately drenched and her clothes stuck to her skin like a drowned cat, but she payed it no mind as she sprinted down the deserted streets, looking for any signs of her brother.

It wasn't until Kallen finally stopped to catch her breath, that she noticed she was at the harbor. Sneaking around to one of the freights, Kallen unlatched the door and slipped in, grateful for the shelter and warm air.

This particular harbor had been abandoned when Britannia conquered Japan. The Britannian's were cowards. Three things that humans need to survive is air, water and food. Knowing this, the harbor was one of the first things to be attacked. With their water and food resources cut, Japan forces soon became weakened.

Using her phone as a light, Kallen looked around the freight she was in. There were stacks of boxes pushed against two of the walls, leaving a clear path to walk down the middle.

Kallen paused from her search when she heard the sound of a helicopter cutting through the air. With each passing second it got louder and louder until all Kallen could hear was the buzzing roar of the propellers. Curious as to what was going on, Kallen poked her head out of the door.

Her eyes widened at what she saw. What the hell were the Britannian cops doing here?! This harbor might have been abandoned, but it was still on the Japanese' side of the city!

x-XXX-x

"He should have been back by now," Ohgi said worriedly as he paced the room.

"Naoto always runs off. What's so different this time?" Tamaki asked, a scowl played on his face.

Lelouch silently hovered above Tamaki as he watched the conversation unravel. He'd only just got back to camp an hour ago, right when it started pouring. The rain drummed loudly against the roof, and Lelouch found himself with a thoughtful frown on his face. It appeared as if Naoto and Kallen had both disappeared. Judging by the fact that Naoto planned on intercepting a recent shipping from the homelands, Lelouch suspected he was currently at the abandoned harbor.

Due to the recent string of robberies, the Britannian's finally decided to try shipping the goods to another harbor. Being that the last few shipments had been intercepted and a few goods had gone missing, they were now trying to send the shipments to a different part of Japan; the abandoned harbor near the ghetto's. This tidbit of information was top secret and was to be kept away from the ears of the nobles. If any of the rich-blood heard about where the items where being shipped to, there was no doubt that there would be a commotion. Unfortunately for the Britannia authorities, they hadn't expected a ghost to be listening in on their plans.

"If only Naoto actually wrote where he was going in his planner," Ohgi hissed as he flipped through the book before finding a map drawn on the most recent page. Ohgi narrowed his eyes on the map, it didn't have any words or specific markings on it.

Sighing Lelouch said, "it's a map of the harbor."

"The abandoned one?" Tamaki asked quietly and Lelouch nodded. "I think it's a map of the old harbor."

"Not think! It is! I helped Naoto gather information of where the next shipping would go and what it is," Lelouch stated.

"You did what?!" Tamaki screeched as he stood up and whirled on Lelouch. Behind him, Ohgi stared on in shock. Most likely believing that his friend had lost his marbles.

"It was orders," Lelouch said simply said with a shrug.

"But you let him go by himself!" Tamaki roared.

Ohgi stood as well and looked at Tamaki worriedly. "Who are you talking to?"

Tamaki shot a dangerous glare at Lelouch before putting a hand to his ear, and pretending to take out a bluetooth. "An inside source that only Naoto and I know of," Tamaki said with practiced ease.

"We have a spy?" questioned Ohgi.

"Isn't that what I just said?"

"Well… yeah…" Ohgi said uncertainly.

"Well the kid said, Naoto was at the harbor."

"A kid?"

Tamaki scowled, "yeah, a kid! There's a shipping today and Naoto decided to intercept it. Turns out the Brits are shipping their things to the old harbor."

"We have a kid helping with the resistance?" Ohgi asked. Lelouch could almost see the wheels turning in his head.

"Yessssss!" Tamaki hissed, getting irritated that he had to repeat himself. "He's seventeen. What's the big deal anyway?"

Ohgi blinked as if coming to a conclusion. "Why isn't he in school?" Ohgi breathed and slumped down into the couch. "Kallen's going to kill me."

"Shouldn't we be more concerned about Naoto right now?" Lelouch interrupted before Tamaki could ask Ohgi what he meant.

"So what do you think we should do about Naoto?" Tamaki asked. He might have been looking at Ohgi but it was obvious that his question was toward both Lelouch and Ohgi.

"We should head to the harbor to make sure he's not in any trouble," Ohgi stated.

"And while we're at it we might as well take the goods with us as well," Lelouch added. "Do you have an extra radio I can borrow? That way I can go my separate way and update you."_ and Ohgi will be able to hear me… _

"Yeah, that sound's good," Tamaki agreed with a nod.

* * *

**A/N:** Sorry for the late update ^^;


	6. Chapter 6: Chaos at The Harbor

**Boy In The Scroll**

Warning: There's a couple swear words in this chapter...

**Chapter 6: Chaos at The Harbor**

* * *

"Where are you guys?" Lelouch asked over the radio.

"Almost there," Ohgi said.

Both Tamaki and Ohgi could hear a sigh of irritation coming from the other end. "Be careful when you two get here. There's a bunch of cops and three knightpolice. I suggest coming in from the south and traveling between the old freights. It's the only clear area. When you two get to the south drop off, radio me so I can give you directions... oh and ditch the truck a quarter of a mile before you get there." The line went dead.

After a while, Ohgi finally asked the question which had been on his mind for a while now, "can we really trust this kid? And how was he able to get in so fast? It's like he's in league with the Britannians."

Tamaki couldn't help but snort and shake his head. "He's on our side," he said with confidence. He had a feeling that as long as he had the scroll in his possession, Lelouch would be on their side... hell even if he didn't have the scroll, he doubted that Lelouch would side with the Britannian's. The kid might be a Britannian but his hate was real.

"If you say so..." Ohgi said as he parked the truck out of sight and jumped out. It was a coincidence that he happened to see Naoto's own car and decided to park the truck right next to it.

Ten minutes later, both men were hiding behind a large freight and doing their best to stay out of sight of the lights that shined their way. "Alright, we're here. Now what?" Tamaki asked through the radio.

There was silence, then static as Lelouch spoke. "In a minute a party of two will pa-"

"I thought you said the south was clear!" Tamaki shouted.

"It's the safest route," Lelouch said simply. "Now head between the freights labeled 101 and 106b. From there you'll pass two freights before taking a right at the first blue freight you see."

"Do you know where Naoto is?" Ohgi asked, as he and Tamaki followed Lelouch's directions.

"Take another right and there should be an empty tractor. Go inside of it. The Britannia's won't be checking the area around it." There was a pause then, "no, I don't know where Naoto is. However Kallen is here."

"Is she with you?" Ohgi asked.

"No…" If Tamaki was just a tad bit smarter he would have been able to pick out the unease in Lelouch's voice about the obvious lie. However being that Tamaki is well… Tamaki, he ignored these signs and took Lelouch's words for the dictionary interpretation and not for what Lelouch actually meant; 'I'm with her, but she can't see me and I don't want Ohgi to ask if he can speak to her.'

"You left her _alone_?" Tamaki asked with a hint of venom in his voice.

"...Yes," Lelouch said. How was he supposed to say that he was following her without getting himself into even more trouble than he was already in? "In any case, you two are free to search the harbor. I've hidden two uniforms in the tractor, under the dashboard, change into them and if anyone questions you; there should be fake ID's labeling you as honorary Britannian's. Just make sure you keep the helmet on. I stole those ID's from other people so if they see your face and the ID, it'll spell trouble."

"Yeah, yeah," Tamaki grumbled as he began changing.

"You're name's Lelouch, right?" Ohgi questioned as he too began slipping on the grey uniform.

"Yes."

"And you're Britannian?" There was no answer, but Ohgi took that as a _yes_. "What's a Britannian doing helping us? We're eleven's. A mere resistance group."

"How low. How can you expect anyone to side with you if that's the attitude you got? You're Japanese not numbers, and I don't see a reason why a Britannian can't do as he pleases. If you must know, I'm simply helping due to self interest." _and boredom. _

"Okay, we're done changing. Should we meet up with you?" Ohgi asked, filing everything he just learned about Lelouch for later.

"No, we'll cover more space if I'm by myself."

"Alright," Ohgi agreed and quickly stuffed his radio into his breast pocket. It was a good thing they recently got some money to update from the brick sized radio, to something that was just a tad larger than a cellphone. It was much more convenient than the radio's they were forced to use only a month ago.

"Come on Tamaki, let's get go… ing… Tamaki?" Ohgi blinked at the empty seat besides him. Tamaki had been there a while ago. Don't tell him the idiot went out on his own. Again.

x~XXX~x

Lelouch sighed as the line went dead. He could only hope those two were more helpful than bothersome. Hopefully they wouldn't get caught and would alert him should anything happen.

Shaking himself from these thoughts, Lelouch continued to follow Kallen. Despite the fact she was wearing a school uniform-complete with a skirt- the girl moved quickly. It pained Lelouch to admit that he spent a complete thirty minutes staring at her skirt wondering why it never lifted up during her sprints across the harbor or when the wind picked up. It was almost like the thing was glued to Kallen's legs, but that couldn't be since it moved like natural cloth, granted wet cloth, but still. In the end, he chalked up the mystery to a girl thing.

Kallen looked around the corner and Lelouch already knew the coast was clear. The cops followed a strict pattern. Knowing this even a child would be able to avoid detection. Of course he couldn't tell Kallen of his findings, but if he could, they would be moving along much faster. Seeing that the area was clear, Kallen raced forward and reached another row of freights. These looked newer than the other's that had been siting here to rust.

It must be the new shipments.

Without missing a beat, Kallen slipped into the nearest freight. "Wow," she breathed just as Lelouch floated in.

Stacked to the roof, this freight was loaded with antiques. It would take an idiot not to realize this shipment was meant for one of the nobles and was probably worth a fortune. Any of these items would be worth several pounds of Britannian currency if sold on the black market.

For the next ten minutes, Kallen shifted through the different items with Lelouch peering over her shoulder. Most of the antiques were too large to carry but others were small enough to fit into Kallen's pockets. These items being a handheld gun, a bag of gold coins and an antique watch. As for Lelouch, he wrapped his coat around a black helmet he found. He wasn't entirely sure what he would do with it, but it reminded him of a black king chess piece.

"Lelouch?"

The spirit paused from what he was doing and snuck a look at his radio.

"Naoto?" Lelouch asked as he floated out of the freight. Kallen may not be able to see or hear him, but with Naoto over the radio he didn't want to take his chances.

"I'm picking up your radio frequency. What are you doing here?" Naoto hissed.

"Looking for you. Where are you? Do you need help?"

"No, I'm good, but if you see a detonator of any sort make sure to tell me."

"Did you find something?" Lelouch asked.

"The Britannian's are shipping some type of gas in parts. I'm not interested in the gas, the Britannian's can take it to one of their bases for all I care. As long as we have the detonator we'll be safe and have a trump over them."

"Interesting," Lelouch nodded, that sounded like an excellent plan. "What about the rest of the shipment?"

"We'll take as much of the food as we can fit into my car."

"Tamaki and Ohgi brought the truck so we could probably empty half of a freight."

"Sounds good."

"I'll tell the two of them to bring the truck arou-"

"No need, I think I just found Tamaki. I'll catch you later Lelouch."

"Wait!" Lelouch called, but it was too late. Naoto already turned off his radio. "Ohgi, come in. Where's Tamaki?"

"I'm not sure," Ohgi said. "I took my eyes off him for a second and the next he was gone."

Lelouch sighed. "Don't worry about it. Naoto's with him. Anyway I need you to drive the truck around. I'll cause a distraction as you empty one of the cooling freights with food in it."

Without wasting another second, Lelouch tied his coat and helmet over his shoulder for a makeshift bag. Then taking his radio, he slightly opened the freight Kallen was in and tossed the radio toward her. He could hear the small yelp of shock as Kallen caught the radio and raced for cover as if expecting there to be an attack. Lelouch didn't have time to ensure that she was okay, however, and quickly flew away. He needed to make that distraction and fast.

Good thing he didn't need to worry about getting caught. The first thing that caught Lelouch's eye was a steal bar. This would be almost too easy.

Rain drummed against the concrete, echoed by the sound of clanging. Lelouch smirked as he raced forward with a steel bar in hand and dragged it across the uneven walls of the freights he passed. Nearby one of the cops shouted in shock at the 'floating' steal bar heading his way.

"Night," Lelouch said, and without a second thought he hit the guy over the head. That would hurt… Spotting a radio attached to the man's suit, Lelouch picked it up and said into it, "attack near the north helipad! I rep- AAAaagrrhhhh!" Lelouch screamed and cut off his connection. "I'd say that was a big distraction…" Lelouch chuckled to himself, tapping the steal bar onto his open palm.

It would be more interesting if something really was going on at the helipad, though. Lelouch grinned as he took his time at approaching the helicopter that flew right above the helipad. The pilot was being cautious, and would have been relatively safe if he wasn't dealing with someone who could fly.

**Bang! **

Lelouch swung the bar at the helicopter before dropping it to clang uselessly to the ground. By now most of the cops were surrounding the area, including two of the knightpolice. The third was probably still on it's way.

Floating though the helicopter, Lelouch was tugged back. He'd forgotten about the helmet… Being a spirit would be so much easier if he could also make real world items intangible. Lelouch sighed as he untied his coat and left the sleeves to hang through the helicopter with the helmet on the other side. It would need to do for now.

Turning back to the pilot, Lelouch began by glancing at the control board. Good. The machine guns attached were still operational and had several rounds of ammunition. Flicking off the safety, Lelouch reached through the pilot and took hold of the controls over the pilot's hands. Lelouch couldn't help but snicker at the sharp intake of breath as the pilot undoubtedly felt hands wrap around his own.

"What?" the pilot hissed as the machine guns took aim and fired at the cops gathered on the dock.

A swift punch to the dashboard was all it took to ensure that the bullet's would continue firing. Lelouch released his grip on the controls and turned on the hand's free radio. "I'm defecting from Britannian!" Lelouch shouted into it with a maniacal laughter. "All hell Zero!"

Technically he was a spirit and in essence nothing, so the name _Zero_ made sense. The name would probably be seen as something, someone made up. Without a face '_Zero'_ would become nothing more than a tale that someone made up.

Oh well, Lelouch's job was done here. With a scapegoat, he wouldn't need to worry about the Britannian's looking for a culprit. It would also take a while for the bullet's to run out, and once it did the pilot would have no other choice but to flee or turn himself in.

Lelouch smirked as he floated through the wall of the helicopter and grabbed his coat and helmet. Now to get back to Tamaki and Naoto. He sighed, this was going to be a long mission.

XXX

"Tamaki!" Naoto called. Crap. Naoto whipped around a freight as a few cops ran passed him. Why did that man always insist on doing things his way? Gah! Tamaki was so-so reckless! Jumping onto a Britannian ship was _not_ a good idea. True, Naoto wanted the detonator but he didn't want it if it meant risking his life!

Once the last of the cops ran past, Naoto sprinted toward the ramp. This was soooo not a good idea.

"Come in, Tamaki," Naoto hissed through the radio, hoping that Tamaki would answer.

"Yeah?"

"Where are you?" Tamaki didn't answer. "Damn it!" Naoto swore, raising his hand with the radio as if to slam it on the ground before thinking better of it. That idiot! Tamaki was going to get himself killed one of these days!

Naoto growled in frustration. This wouldn't be the first time Tamaki went off on his own. The fool always ignored orders. "What's going on in that head of yours?" Naoto questioned the air.

Naoto looked the freights, it was like a human sized maze on a ship. The deck was slippery from the rain, and he could see the moonlight reflected off of it's shining metal. Looking around, he couldn't find anything that looked remotely dangerous. It was different than other boat's he'd been on. This was a Britannian ship.

Weaving between the freights stacked on the sides of the ship, Naoto picked up his pace. Tamaki needed to be here somewhere. He'd been walking aimlessly for about an hour, and was beginning to think he'd never find Tamaki. A movement from his peripheral vision alerted him to another presence, and Naoto didn't give it a second thought before running in that direction.

"Tamaki," Naoto breathed, but the name caught in his throat when he saw what the red head was staring at.

A knightmare pointing it's guns at his comrade.

In Tamaki's hand, Naoto could just make out a small device. If he was right that was the detonator.

**_Click!_**

Tamaki flinched. He needed to do something _now!_

Naoto raced forward.

**BANG! BANG! BANG! _CRASH! _**

The pain registered and darkness took over.

XXX

Chaos, Lelouch realized that he'd been too late. Gold flames whipped up with the wind and even with the freezing rain, it still continued to spread. Lelouch neared the burning ship. The fire couldn't hurt him. He could almost feel his heart pounding against his rib cage as he scanned the ship for the scroll's owner and the owner's friend. Where? Where?! Where! The question rang in his head.

"Tch," Lelouch grunted in irritation. Eyes narrowing and teeth gritted, he dived into the fire. He barely noticed a knightmare escape hatch launch over him and into the raging waters.

"Naoto…" it was a whimper and Lelouch immediately flew toward the sound. It was Tamaki of course. Ash smeared his face and dirtied his ripped clothes as he stared at the arm that gripped his own. One arm. No body.

"Tamaki, we need to go," Lelouch stated as he neared the man. He reached over to pull the red head up.

"No, Naoto… he's…"

"We need to go now!" Lelouch shouted. The fire was spreading. It would only take a minute for it to reach the engine. Lelouch didn't wait for an answer, nor did he listen to Tamaki's protests as he dragged the man into the sky and toward safety.

* * *

**A/N**: Hope that answers the question about Naoto... kinda... Bwahahaha, I feel so evil. I just _killed_ a character and swore all in the same chapter! Anyway if you read the author's note from a while ago about Naoto I wasn't lying about him 'sort of dying.' That'll be explained in the next chapter... I think... okay, I'm pretty sure it'll be explained in the next chapter but knowing me, I might end up typing up something completely different...

Special thanks to everyone who continue to read this story and extra special thanks to those who review and give their opinion! Also people who don't have an account but review anyway, thanks for taking your time to say something but I ask that you leave some sort of name, instead of just 'Guest.' That way if multiple 'Guests' have a question I'll be able to reply without needing to worry about numbering all you 'Guests.' lol. Thank you all XD

**Wraith Kone:** Thanks for reviewing! I would have PMed you but decided that you had an excellent question and that other's might be wondering the same thing. So to answer it, yes and no. He will get a real body, and will be able to be seen by everyone. However he'll always feel a strong connection to the scroll and will never truly be released from it. I'll be going more into his connection with the scroll in later chapters, after this whole Naoto thing is over with. Hope that answered your question! :)


	7. Chapter 7: Unfeeling Heart

**Boy In The Scroll**

**Chapter 7: Unfeeling Heart**

* * *

Tamaki's teeth chattered loudly and Lelouch could feel the man shift as he removed his singed shirt to wrap it around Naoto's arm. "I can't believe he's gone," Tamaki whispered before he slumped over as he cradled the arm to his chest, unconscious.

Lelouch blinked at the sleeping man and shook his head. A lot had happened today and with the loss of a comrade only the emperor would look down on Tamaki's display of weakness. Lelouch sighed, only humans could show emotions like Tamaki did so frequently, the man was practically an open book. He was the exact opposite of Lelouch's father, and Lelouch was beginning to think he had much more in common with the emperor than he liked to admit.

Lelouch didn't feel any sadness in his heart. He didn't understand it. Death, killing, it was bad. But not a single tear escaped his eyes, no thoughts of sorrow or loss crossed Lelouch's mind. Did his uncaring heart prove that he really wasn't human anymore? Perhaps as a spirit he could no longer spare any sadness toward the death of a friend, all of his sorrow already went toward the loss of his mother.

Shaking his head, Lelouch slowly descended toward Ohgi's truck. The man looked just about read to leave and was closing the large door to the back of it. Making sure to stay out of eyesight, Lelouch gently set Tamaki down on the passengers seat.

Just in time too, considering Kallen just jumped into the back passengers seat. She took one look at Tamaki, mumbled something about lazy idiots and continued to lean back in her chair with a scowl. Lelouch supposed now would be the time to feel sorry for her as she had just lost her brother and didn't know it, but he still didn't feel his heart ache like it did when his mother died. Lelouch closed his eyes and sighed, giving up on trying to discover what triggered his emotions.

Soon the sun rose again even before they got back to camp. It seemed that even without an explanation, the rest of rebels had already guessed the worse.

"What happened?" Yoshida asked.

"I'm not sure," Ohgi stated silently as he carried Tamaki to one of the couches, unaware of Lelouch who floated right behind him. "We went to the harbor in search for Naoto. I received orders to load up the truck with the food shipment. Tamaki wasn't with me. I think he was with Naoto. I'm not sure what happened but Tamaki just appeared at the truck as I was carrying the last box. We'll need to ask him once he wakes up."

"So the Britannian's stole another of our comrades," Naomi stated sadly as she hugged her arms. She shook out her blue hair and looked away. "I'm sorry," she whispered. "I need to go."

Lelouch floated above the small group, listening to their conversation. He couldn't believe that they were speaking of such matters in front of Naoto's sister, but he couldn't bring himself to really care. He just watched on with his usual cool and calculating gaze as the men and girl before him shed tears for their friend and brother.

Did he not care because he, himself was dead, or was it something else? Whatever it was, it troubled Lelouch. He didn't like the fact that he could not, _would_ not care. He killed people and he didn't care. _Killed!_ And his friend was gone. _Dead! _His entire mindset went against everything his mother ever taught him, and it certainly went against anything Nunnally of Euphy would agree with. His uncaring disposition screamed, _'I'm the son of Charles zi Britannia!'_ Lelouch didn't like it one bit.

XXX

To Lelouch, the days were becoming blurred together. Everything was in fast motion as the funeral neared. Usually when someone of Japanese decent died they would immediately be cremated before the week was up. However due to the fact that it was the rebel's leader who died and everything that came with trying to get Ohgi to take the position, things were delayed.

The morning the funeral arrived was a rainy day, just like the day Naoto died. It seemed to reflect everyone's mood as they all paid their respects to him. The funeral was done in secrecy as to hide the fact from the Britannian's. As the day rolled on everyone from the ghetto's stopped by 'base' to pay their respects. Eventually a shinto priest came to ward away evil spirits and burn the arm.

All seven rebels watched as the arm burned to ash and when it cooled off they all took turns retrieving pieces of bone with chopsticks. When it came around to Tamaki the man declined and fled the area. He didn't remember the events that took place at the harbor. It was a traumatic event and no one could really blame him for forgetting Naoto's death, or why Naoto even died. They all just guessed it was Tamaki's fault for not following orders to begin with… of course no one voice their opinion out loud to the red head, but Lelouch could hear them mutter it under their breaths.

"Lelouch, I wanna talk to you," Tamaki said as he walked away from his friends and toward the corner of the room.

Lelouch reluctantly followed, already knowing what all this was about.

"What's your problem?" Tamaki demanded. He stuffed his hands into his pockets and jutted out his chin toward Lelouch.

"I don't have one," Lelouch stated, matter-of-factly.

"You're standing-"

"Floating."

Tamaki glared, "you're floating there and you don't even care that Naoto's dead!"

"I do care," Lelouch said.

"Damn it! You're not even human!" Tamaki hissed. "How can something like you, even begin to care! You might say that you care, but it sure doesn't look like it! Where the fuck were you when Naoto died?"

"I was doing my job," Lelouch answered. He was more affected by that comment than he let on. "Besides, what were _you _doing?"

"Me? I can't remember!"

"Have you ever asked yourself why exactly, you can't remember?" Lelouch asked despite himself. He was treading on dangerous territory but pushed on. "Has it ever occurred to you that it might have been your fault?"

"What!?" Tamaki screeched, face growing red with rage. "How dare you! I wouldn't have killed him!"

Lelouch looked down at the man from his perch in the air. "Says the man that never listens to orders," Lelouch sneered. "If you hadn't let that ego of yours get out of control and actually listened to orders for once Nao-"

"Shut up!" Tamaki ordered. "How can you judge someone you've only known for three weeks? You know nothing about me! And by the looks of it you don't even care that Naoto's gone! You're the devil!"

That goes both ways! How could Tamaki say that Lelouch didn't care? Sure he didn't show any outward emotion- and that scared him- however that could be easily explained. He'd spent seven damned years in that scroll and hadn't shown any emotion since his mother died! Would it have been better if Lelouch pretended to cry? Emotions were alien to him…

Lelouch cut off his train of thought and floated closer to Tamaki, ready to fire back another rebuke.

"No! Get back!" Tamaki roared, stopping Lelouch in his tracks. "I don't care what you say. Just shut up and stay here." Tamaki stomped away and Lelouch could barely pick up his last words, "I'll deal with you later."

XXX

Tamaki growled quietly as he went back to his comrades who were now placing Naoto's urn on a shrine-like-shelf. How dare that spirit blame _him_ for Naoto's death! What right did Lelouch have for placing that blame on him? If anything it would be the spirit's fault considering he had freaking powers! And besides, if Lelouch was a spirit could he, oh I don't know; um, resurrect the dead?

"Who were you talking to?" Ohgi questioned once Tamaki got closer.

"Lelouch," Tamaki growled the name.

"Oh," Ohgi nodded in understanding. "Does he know about Naoto?"

"Yeah," Tamaki growled.

Ohgi gave him a questioning look. "Are you okay?"

"Lelouch could have saved Naoto."

"I don't know about that… Besides isn't he just a kid?"

Tamaki turned his glare on Ohgi. Was it just him, or was everyone against him today? If only Lelouch could be see by everyone, he wouldn't need to deal with this right now!

"What kid?" Kallen asked. Her eyes a bit puffy from crying, but overall she seemed much better than before.

"Just some Britannian recruit," Ohgi shrugged.

Kallen frowned. "That's a kid?"

"Yeah…"

"You let a Britannian kid help, but not me?" Kallen asked, eyes narrowing.

"He's a special case. Naoto let him on," Ohgi stated and Tamaki just snorted.

"Did he have something to do with my brother's…" she was unable to complete the sentence. Finally! Someone that saw things the same way Tamaki did!

"No," Ohgi shook his head. "He was helping us and if it wasn't for him I wouldn't have been able to load the truck without being caught."

Tamaki huffed. Ohgi was such a traitor. If Ohgi knew what Lelouch was, he would also see things in the same light as Tamaki did. Tamaki frowned… what the brat said wasn't true right? It just couldn't be Tamaki's fault. Sure he was reckless at times, and didn't always follow orders, but it's not like he shot his own leader! Tamaki massaged his temples, god he wished he could remember what the hell happened.

"I want to fight," Kallen said. "Naoto's gone now and without him you'll need as much help as you can get. You know I'm the only one good enough to pilot the only Knightmare we have."

She left no room for argument and in the end Ohgi really didn't have any other choice but to let her do as she pleased. She was their best friend's sister, and was already involved in their criminal acts. Besides, she wasn't the same child she used to be.

"Very well," Ohgi agreed. "However should anything happen I need you to return to the Stadtfeld home. You have two lives to uphold, and as long as you have the Stadtfeld home to return to, you'll have something no one else has. A second life and a second chance. When things become to rough here, or when I tell you to, you are to return there and lay back for a while."

"Thats cowardly."

Ohgi shook his head. "It's not. You're simply ensuring your survival."

"Fine."

"Oh and you still need to keep up your grades in school."

Kallen's face fell. "You can't be serious. What about that other kid?"

"Lelouch is none of my business, and I have no power over him. You however…"

"Alright, alright!" Kallen grumbled and crossed her arms over her chest.

XXX

What. The. F.

Lelouch slammed his eyes shut as he struggled against his binds. Nothing budged. Lelouch groaned as he gasped for breath and hung from the chains that bound him in his current position. He couldn't see the chains, but he could feel it's rough steel biting into his flesh. It hurt. And he didn't like it. Damn that blasted scroll! He didn't sign up for this! He wasn't a wild animal! Why in the world was he chained like one? Where was Tamaki when he needed him? Lelouch winced as he struggled one last time, only to gasp when the chains got tighter.

Tears of pain blurred his vision, making everything a mass of colors. Lelouch groaned as he blinked his tears away. If only someone else could see him and help him out of this jumbled mess! Like Kallen! For crying out loud the girl was sitting right below him staring at a picture of Naoto.

"Where's Tamaki?" Lelouch groaned, but because of the pressure to his jaw he couldn't seem to open his mouth.

It felt like ages before Kallen stood up and rounded the corner. Lelouch could hear her shout something or another about some kid joining the resistance, and it wasn't until an hour later when Tamaki rounded that same corner.

Lelouch instantly locked eyes on him, he would have ask for help, moved, anything to get Tamaki to help him but his body wouldn't listen to him.

"What the hell are you doing?" Tamaki growled as he sauntered up to Lelouch with his hands stuffed in his pocket. "You look like an idiot."

Lelouch glared.

"What? You don't have any smart retorts this time?" Tamaki asked as he took a seat on one of the chairs facing Lelouch. "Well, maybe you were right, maybe it was my fault... Aren't you going to say anything?"

Lelouch blinked, did Tamaki just admit to being wrong? Impossible, Tamaki would never do that… would he? Lelouch was so focused on this dilemma that he didn't notice the pressure in his jaw release.

"So, you going to answer me or what? Did Naoto die because of me?"

"I don't know," Lelouch answered and was shocked to see that he could talk.

"But you said-"

"Before that," Lelouch started, looking a bit uncomfortable. "Could you release me?"

"Huh?"

"I can't move, and earlier you told me not to. So release me."

"Erm, you can move?"

As soon as Tamaki said that, Lelouch collapsed to the ground. He let out a shaky breath from finally being freed. His entire body tingled as if his blood was beginning to circulate again. Taking a look at his arm, Lelouch nearly bit his tongue when he noticed it was swollen from the lack of blood circulation.

At least one good thing came out of all of this. He finally discovered that Tamaki had power over him, and possibly the key to his freedom.

* * *

**A/N:** Chapters may be coming a bit slower. I'm moving to the State's next week (lol, 'States' I call it the Mainland) and then I start school the week after. So updates will most likely be slower until I get used to the environment, school and whatnot.


	8. Chapter 8: Ghost Zero

**Boy In The Scroll**

I'm soooo sorry for the wait guys! I just moved! Never mind houses, I moved to an entirely different state! Heck, I'm not even on the same block of land anymore! And I'd promise that the next chapter won't take as long but school just started and I'm still trying to get settled in... so yeah... I'm sorry... On to the story!

**Chapter 8: Ghost Zero**

* * *

"Stop," Lelouch growled menacingly at Tamaki. He could stand up by himself, damn it! This was humiliating! Not only did the prince have to listen to every command, but he was also forced into such a disgraceful position. Never in his entire life did he think he'd be bowing to an idiot like Tamaki! Hell, he practically begged Tamaki to release him from his earlier position. It was embarrassing! "I don't need help," Lelouch bit out as he pulled on the familiar leash. He felt like an animal, someones pet to command and punish at will.

"You look like you need it," Tamaki stated and moved to help Lelouch despite the spirit's protests. "I'm sorry, okay?"

"Whatever-"

"Would you just shut up and listen?!" Tamaki roared and instantly released his grip on Lelouch causing him to fall.

Lelouch glared. The pressure in his jaw was back.

Tamaki raised an eyebrow before realization struck him. "Gah! I'm trying to say sorry! Alright!? So stop giving me that look!... and... you can talk now..."

"Then do me a favor and let me be seen by other people," Lelouch said quietly. He'd already stooped low for someone of his status, so why stop now? Of course he didn't expect Tamaki to hear him, but his life had no future. That much was clear when Tamaki demonstrated his power over Lelouch with just his words. Lelouch grit his teeth as he silently seethed. "I'm going out," he ground out, but just as he was about to leave, Tamaki stopped him. "What the hell do you want?!" Lelouch roared.

Shocked by the increase in sound, Tamaki flinched and instantly looked away. A small part of Lelouch almost regretted yelling at the idiot, but that didn't stop him from glaring. Tamaki took in a shaky breath and shook his head. "I'll see you tomorrow," the Japanese said before walking away.

"Baka," Lelouch snorted as he floated the opposite way. All the while reciting swear words in his head. Unfortunately for him, he didn't know that many as he was sealed at the age of ten and had an over protective mother. So instead he made up his own words and whatever else he'd picked up from Tamaki over the course of the last month. It was pathetic.

Drifting further from camp, Lelouch soon found his anger dissipating at the lack of things to do in the ghetto's. There was nothing to do, and there was certainly no "life-threatening order" from Tamaki. Seriously, that man abused his 'ghost servant.' _Go do this, go do that_. It was amazing not a single complaint escaped Lelouch's lips. It was almost like he wanted to cook the man's food, and wash the man's underwear! Lelouch scrunched up his face. He always told himself to refuse the next order, but each time he found himself obeying it.

Damn scroll was ruining his life!

He was a prince darn it! Exiled or not, he did not want to wash someones underwear! Nor did he want to be said person's wingman. Lelouch didn't know a single thing about picking up girls!

Lelouch sighed. That man, Tamaki, he was corrupting Lelouch's innocent mind…

At least he understood more of what was happening around him though. Granted he didn't want to listen to Tamaki's orders, but it was the first step to getting his freedom. Or at least he hoped it was.

"I can never catch a break," Lelouch muttered to himself. He slowly lowered himself toward the ground when he reached his destination; a wall.

The wall was made of red bricks and had several of them missing. With the bricks missing, it looked like an earthquake struck, making the wall uneven with a crack running across the length of it. It screamed home of rodents and bugs, making it the perfect place for Lelouch to store things. Not only would it keep his things safe from the weather, but it would also keep nosy human's away.

Reaching into the crevice, Lelouch drew out his helmet and unwrapped it from the rags (he didn't want it to get scratched.) This helmet was possibly his only tangible possession in the world. Sure he had several bandages and some ratty clothes, but that was something he needed if he wanted to interact with people.

Taking the bandages out of the helmet, Lelouch skillfully wrapped them around his head then quickly slipped on his coat and pushed the sun glasses onto his nose. Done with his disguise, Lelouch grabbed a wad of bills -also in his helmet- before wrapping the helmet back into the rags and stuffing it into the wall.

Lelouch might have been a spirit, but 'Oliver' (as he liked to call himself when wrapped in bandages) was a chess genius. Lelouch smirked; drunks were always easy to beat.

x~XXX~x

Lelouch grinned from under his bandages. Two hundred, won and pocketed! He was on a roll! And best part was, he didn't need to give his winnings to Tamaki! "Thank you for the match," Lelouch said to the drunk man.

"Alright, my turn!"

"Rivalz?" Lelouch questioned the blue headed bartender. "Shouldn't you be working?"

"Ah, come on don't be like that," Rilvalz joked as he took a seat across from Lelouch. He was already beginning to rearrange the board for a new game. "I'm the one who introduced you to this place."

"And I brought business to it."

"But I'm the one who advertised the chess matches," Rivalz argued.

"Fine, but we're betting for twenty."

"What! That's more than I make each hour!"

"Well if you win, you'll get twenty in less than an hour," Lelouch stated.

"Man, what's up with you and money?" Rivalz complained. "Let's just play for fun. We already know you're going to win. Come on, please Oliver? Please?"

Lelouch groaned, he was useless against that pathetic puppy look. "You're move," Lelouch sighed.

"Yes! Thanks Ollie, you're the best!" Rivalz moved a pawn.

"Ollie?" Lelouch moved his knight.

"Yeah, that's what the prez always refers to you as," Rivalz stated as he moved his bishop. Well at least it didn't sound as girly as Lulu. "She's always talking about you. I think she enjoyed going on that tour." There was a bit of sarcasm in which both boys shared a light laugh.

"I hope you haven't told her I come here to hang out."

"Nope," Rivalz grinned, "I told her you can be found at the casino."

Lelouch hummed thoughtfully, hardly paying attention to the board as chess pieces clicked against it's expensive wood. "I could probably make more money there, than I could here."

"No! You've gotta stay here!" Rivalz pleaded. "Please, Ollie?! My pay's higher since you came here and I even receive bigger tips."

"It was just a thought," Lelouch stated. He looked down at the board, he could have won by now but decided not to. He enjoyed the other's teen's company. It was nice spending time with someone his own age for once.

"Good."

Lelouch shot Rivalz an amused grin. "So tell me about the student council."

Rivalz grinned as he began his tale of the student council. He told Lelouch practically everything that happened within the student council. From Suzaku's cat problem to Milly's over the top festivals.

"Yeah, Nunnally's a pretty good kid," Rivalz nodded, agreeing with Lelouch's past statement. The teen took in a deep breath as if tired from his telling his tale. "It's getting late, buddy," Rivalz said after a while. "I better help the boss close up, see you tomorrow?"

"I'm not sure. My schedule is a little hectic, but I'll stop by if I can," Lelouch said as he helped put the chess board away. "Well, see you," he gave a slight bow before heading out the door.

Sure enough, the sun had already set leaving it's sister in it's place. Lelouch watched the purity of the moon for a while before starting down the road. It took him a while, but eventually he got to the ghetto's and was able to shed his clothes and float the rest of his way to the wall. He needed to put the bandages and coat back.

Setting himself on the ground, Lelouch took out his helmet. He didn't know what possessed him to steal it. At the time it looked like a chess piece, and it still did. However it wasn't of any use to him. The helmet was unlike any he had ever seen before, and it certainly looked odd compared to all the other helmets.

Lelouch stared at the face plate as it reflected his own puzzled look. The helmet had a decent weight to it that wouldn't be entirely uncomfortable, and despite it's lack of weight, it was obvious that it would do well to protect a person's head. It even had a strange switch that allowed for his left eye to be seen. The back was also armored with steel plates that would close around the head. There wasn't a doubt in Lelouch's mind that it was a useful helmet, however how could he possible make some use of this helmet?

He was a spirit and needed no sort of protection. On top of that he wouldn't be riding a bike or race car since he could fly, so really? Why did he steal the helmet to begin with? He didn't need it.

Self consciously, Lelouch looked around before putting the helmet to his face. He could immediately feel the cold steel snap into place behind his head. If the world was dark before, the helmet made it darker. The dark tint certainly wasn't helping right now.

"What am I doing?" Lelouch muttered to himself. He barely noticed his distorted voice. Eyes widened slightly Lelouch loudly said, "well, that's useful." Lelouch chuckled as a childish thought ran across his mind, _'at least with this, Tamaki won't be able to tell it's me under the mask.'_

Lelouch sighed as he expertly put a hand to the face of the helmet, making the back plates slide up and release his head. "Zero huh?"

It was an excellent name for a spirit like him and he'd already used the word once. Lelouch smirked, there might be hope for the bodiless spirit yet. Now all he needed was an outfit. He would probably look like some masked weirdo, but if he became a symbol no one would question his strange clothing.

x~XXX~x (A week later)

A light mist spread throughout Tamaki's room as Lelouch woke up. The boy stretched his aching back. For a brief moment he wondered if Tamaki could order the scroll to make a bed for him. Or better yet, transform Lelouch's white prison to something more homey.

Lelouch yawned as he floated through the door and to the living room. He paused above Tamaki's head, eyes wide as he listened to the news.

They were talking about him! Well not, Lelouch the spirit, but Zero! He didn't expect that to happen so fast. He thought it would take at least a month for 'Zero' to become known by the general public! Hell, he didn't even have his costume put together yet!

By the looks of the everyone in the room, Zero had captured everyone's attention. No one new who this man was, only that he always left his calling card everywhere he went. It left the citizen's confused and the authorities baffled. Technically speaking this man was either that good, or he simply shouldn't exist.

Lelouch stared dully at the TV screen as the news quickly changed to the weather forecast. He was possibly the only one not sitting at the edge of his… er, perch in the air. Why would he? He knew who Zero was, it was his alter ego that allowed him to take out some misplaced aggression. Being trapped in parchment could just about make anyone stir crazy. Especially when your 'master' was an idiot named Tamaki. So doing the responsible thing, Lelouch did the only thing a boy like him could do; he made Zero possible.

All six head's leaned forward as the news came on again. The rebels were all curious as to know who this Zero character was. Although they were clearly on the same side, to Lelouch it seemed like they all wanted him to get captured. Such simpletons. Lelouch couldn't help the smirk from reaching his face. They would rather learn who Zero was, than find a way to recruit him. It worked both in his favor and not.

Though, since Lelouch was already in their group, he was recruited… but no one knew that. Not even Tamaki did! Which still shocked Lelouch. All Tamaki had to do was ask if Lelouch knew anything about Zero, and his cover would be blown.

"And how do you intend on capturing this man?" Diethard, the news anchor questioned.

"Increase security, among other things," Jeremiah Gottwald answered as he flippantly ran a hand through his glossy turquoise hair.

"Do you have any clue as to what his goal is?"

"We believe Zero is," Jeremiah paused for a dramatic effect, "a terrorist." Jeremiah looked straight into the camera before scowling and continueing. "However his thievery and spying network is hardly enough to bring down the mighty Britannia. He's merely a road bump we need to conquer. In the end, everything will fall in order."

"I see," Diethard nodded. "Well, thank-"

Someone turned off the TV and Lelouch blinked at the now dark screen.

"Zero has gotten into the most secure buildings," Ohgi sighed, thinking of how little his group compared to just one man. "We need to find out who he is. Ally or not, we need to get him on our side." He already was. "With him we may have a chance. If his accomplishments are anything to go by, he might be able to steal a few Knightmares for us, and even get some cash for our cause." He's also done that… though most of the money has gone to Tamaki's never ending spending. Lelouch sighed, he really needed to give Tamaki some guide lines on how to not be a wasteful spender.

The door creaked open and a red head appeared in the room. "Where should I begin?"

"Shouldn't you be at school?"

"I called in sick," Kallen stated. "So are we going to find this guy or what?"

"We will," Ohgi stated, looking a tad bothered that Kallen skipped school.

"And have you guys started yet?"

"...No…"

Kallen scowled as she took a seat next to Tamaki, forcing Lelouch to move. "Well, we need to start somewhere. Maybe we can ask the other Japanese if they heard about him. Chances are we might even end up talking to Zero himself. If he's causing this much trouble for Britannia he must be Japanese," Kallen reasoned.

Great plan! Except he was already here, and on their side. And need he mention that he's not Japanese?

"I don't know. What if the authorities find out?" Ohgi pointed out. "It'll attract attention."

"What else can we do?" Kallen questioned with a challenging raise of her eyebrow. "How about I look for this guy, and if I get caught I won't say anything about you guys. Besides, I'm a Britannian and as far as they're concerned all Britannian's are perfect."

"I don't know," Ohgi said reluctantly and all the others nodded in agreement.

"Hey Tamaki," Lelouch said, already getting tired of the conversation. "I just got more cash. Where do you want me to put it?"

"You did?" Tamaki looked like a little kid on Christmas day as he asked this.

"Yeah. It should be enough for some new supplies," Lelouch nodded.

"Great!" Tamaki jumped up while waving to his comrades. "I just remembered I needed to meet someone," he said as a way of explanation as he weaved through the furniture and toward the door. Once he was outside, he spread out his fingers and slammed his hand on the air. "Give it here! How much do you have this time?" he questioned with a wolflike grin.

Lelouch thought on it while he passed the wad to Tamaki. "About three thousand."

"Thanks man," Tamaki said as he casually thumbed at the bills. "By the way keep an eye out for that Zero guy. Ohgi and the other's wanna recruit him."

"Sure," Lelouch said. It felt like he was lying through his teeth, but at least the blasted scroll wasn't forcing him to tell Tamaki the truth. That would ruin his whole plan! "I'm going out again." Lelouch gave Tamaki a knowing look, silently telling him that he'd get more cash.

Tamaki shrugged as he pocketed the cash and headed back into the building. Lelouch watched as the door slammed shut with a creak and a cloud of dust. "Camp" was no place for his scroll to be. The place was infested with rodents and bugs! What if one of those lowlifes touched his scroll!? Lelouch mentally sighed, with how much money he was giving Tamaki, the man should have enough money to purchase a two story house on the Britannian's side. Of course Tamaki was a shameless spender so that was never going to happen. Then again, Lelouch had enough saved up to buy something that would house all seven rebels with a room or two to spare.

Wrapping himself in the bandages and slipping on his coat and glasses, Lelouch proceeded to 'walk' back to the city. He had a scheduled chess match at the bar and needed to take care of that before he could do anything else. If he won this match he'd get a few more pounds which would only add up if he finished the game quickly enough.

Before he knew it, Lelouch had already arrived at the bar. Rivaltz was there as well, serving a drink to Lelouch's opponent.

"Can I get you anything else, sir?" Rivaltz asked the noble nervously.

"No," the dark skinned man said. He waved Rivaltz away with his jeweled fingers as if he wasn't worth his time.

Lelouch grinned. If he won the other man would pay more than what they were betting just to ensure that Lelouch would keep his mouth shut. It was these types of men that Lelouch enjoyed playing against. They always payed up due to pride.

"Shall we begin?" Lelouch asked as he took a seat across from the man.

"Your move boy."

x~XXX~x

"Way to go, Ollie!" Rivaltz shouted as he hit Lelouch over the back. "You had me worried for a moment there, sacrificing your queen and all."

"A wins a win," Lelouch stated. Ducking out of Rivaltz hold, he moved to put the chess board away.

The silence was only broken by the tapping of chess pieces. Sliding the board into a wooden container, Lelouch looked up at Rivaltz when an idea struck him. "Hey, I was wondering where I could buy a cheap house from. Do you have any ideas?"

"A house? Don't you already have an apartment?" Rivaltz asked.

"I do," Lelouch lied. "But I want something bigger."

Rivaltz hummed thoughtfully as he struck a typical pose. "Good luck trying to find a house in Area Eleven that's not near the ghetto's. A lot of Britannian's moved hear after the war so there's hardly any land left and there's really only apartments. If you wanted something cheap I'd suggest asking the prez. She could probably get you hooked up... but then you'd have to live on campus," Rivaltz said. His eye brows knitted as he continued to think. "Um... what if..." Suddenly Rivaltz grinned and snapped his fingers. "I've got it! Prince Clovis just moved here with his own landcruisers and since there are still a few older models from the war, I believe they'll be selling most of them. I'm guessing 50k for one."

"That's a lot..."

"Pft," Rivaltz snorted and bit his lip to stop himself from laughing. "You could probably buy five of them if you wanted to! Man, Ollie, it's like you only make money to save it. You need to spend a little."

Lelouch huffed teasingly. "I know, I know," he said as he shook his head in mock shame. Smirking up at Rivaltz, Lelouch stood to put the chess board away. "Thanks for your help Rivaltz." Lelouch slipped the board onto a shelf. "I'll be sure to check it out."

"No problem," Rivaltz said with his usual wide smile. "See you later, buddy."

Lelouch just nodded back at him before leaving the bar with his pockets full.

Almost as soon as he left the bar, Lelouch's thoughts were consumed by his alter ego. He, Zero, had so much to do and work on before he could set about accomplishing his true goal. First off he needed a costume, troops, knightmares, transportation, weapons, money... Lelouch groaned, Tamaki was spending all of his hard earned (stolen) money! Even if Lelouch was a spirit, he couldn't go about doing half those things without the money! Sure he could steal it, but when it came down to the troops, he couldn't just kidnap them! And what were the chances of anyone listening to someone they couldn't even see? Zero! That's right, he had zero chances of getting the army that he needed! The costume... Lelouch really needed a costume to go with his helmet.

Shaking his head, Lelouch came to a stop at a large warehouse. It was where Clovis kept all the knightmares, so Lelouch guessed that he also kept the landcruisers here as well.

"Hey! What are you doing here?"

"I was hoping to buy a landcruiser," Lelouch said as he turned around to see a large, bald man. Lelouch immediately recognized him as Bartley.

The bald man raised an eye brow as he eyed Lelouch. He was obviously bothered by Lelouch's appearance. "What's under those bandages?"

"Burns," Lelouch stated with ease. "I would show them to you, but I'm afraid it would hurt a lot if it touched the contaminated air."

"...I see," Bartley said with an untrusting tone. "I'll get the papers. You may pick the landcruiser you want. They're in the north extension."

"Thank you, sir," Lelouch bowed.

A minute later, Bartley came back with several documents in his hand. "Have you picked one?"

"I would like this one," Lelouch said.

Both males were standing on an overhanging walkway that gave them easy access to the roof tops of the landcruisers. Lelouch pointed to one of the average sized vehicles. Compared to all the other cruisers, it was obvious that this one was one of the older models, as the metal was much denser and it had dents and scratches. However Lelouch wasn't looking for something that looked brand new. He wanted something that was large and at the same time easy to transport and move around. Not only that, but as it was one of the older models, he would be able to make a few changes to make it look different. It was only an added bonus that this cruiser would fit perfectly in the rebel's base.

"I'll get the keys," Bartley muttered after a while. "In the mean time fill this out, and I'll need your ID."

"Here," Lelouch handed him a fake ID as he took the clip board.

By the time Bartley came back, Lelouch had already filled out the paper work with fake information. If anybody tried to track him down they would be led in circles before they learned that the information was outdated information of Lelouch's siblings. Lelouch needed to hold back a snicker as he handed the documents back to the bald man. "Thank you," Lelouch said. "I'll be going now." He snatched the keys from the man and passed him a wad of bills. Without a second thought, jumped onto the roof of the cruiser and slid down it's side before entering the vehicle.

Sighing in relief, Lelouch moved into the control room. There he found several loose pieces of paper and pen. Shrugging to himself, he quickly snatched them up and wrote.

_Ohgi, I've heard a lot about your group and I agree that your fight for equality is a just' one. Allow me to present you with this landcruiser. There are no ties attached but I would suggest getting it a new paint job and taking off it's outer armor. _

_Your ally, Zero_

* * *

**A/N**: Everyone has had a bad day when they're swearing in their head, and sometimes those words don't entirely make sense. Or someone refuses to swear so instead they say another word. So I'm curious, what words do you guys use in place of swear words? I usually use the word "banana" since I'm allergic to them, or I would say "monkey"... I'm not entirely sure why I use the word 'monkey' as a replacment swear word, I just do...

Again, sorry for the wait! ^^;


	9. Chapter 9: Enter Zero

Yoh! People, let's all offer our support to a new writer! Lightshadow101 who recently wrote her first story, Kallen's Poem!

**Boy In The Scroll**

Chapter 9: Enter Zero

* * *

"Hey kid? Kid? Wake up would you? Oh scroll spiriiiiiiit?!" Tamaki screamed. Lelouch could almost feel spit hitting his scroll.

Lelouch raised an irate eyebrow at the man as he was summoned from his scroll. Looking behind Tamaki, to his scroll, Lelouch could see several blobs of spit on the painting. His eyes narrowed. "What. Do. You. Want?" Lelouch ground out. It was taking all of his will power, not to yell at the man for spitting on his scroll.

"Zero gave us a land cruiser!" Tamaki hollered, with a large smile plastered on his face. He didn't seem to notice Lelouch's obvious anger.

"So?"

"So? So?" Tamaki looked at Lelouch as if he'd just lost his mind. "So, Zero's on our side and we don't have to live in this crappy building anymore!"

"You..." Lelouch stopped and shook his head. Tamaki would never understand anything that came out of Lelouch's mouth. It was like the man went deaf as soon as Lelouch had anything important to say. "That's good," Lelouch said at last.

"It's great!" Tamaki agreed. Turning back to the scroll on the wall, Tamaki reached up to take it off the wall. All the while Lelouch stared intently at the man. If Tamaki dared to do anything to his scroll, the man would be in for a world of pain! "Anyway, I woke you up so that you can take this," he said handing the scroll to Lelouch, "and to tell you to unpack my bags and boxes in my new room."

The spirit nodded.

"I have a meeting with Ohgi, so I'll see you later. But first let me show you to my room."

Tucking the scroll into his jacket, Lelouch quietly followed Tamaki out of the building. He nearly gaped at the sight of the cruiser. It looked completely different from the way it looked only hours ago. Just as he ordered, the rebels had taken off the outer armor, making the land cruiser look less bulky and more slick. They even managed to paint it. Instead of the white and blue colors it was before, it was now a dark purple with a golden strip encircling the vehicle with gold stripes here and there. It matched his Zero costume almost perfectly!

"Wow," Lelouch breathed.

"I know!" Tamaki said, as if bragging to Lelouch. "It's one of the older models but with a few changes it looks completely different than anything I've ever seen before. The inside is even better. Ohgi decided to splurge a bit."

Turning away from Lelouch, Tamaki began to type on the control panel to get the doors to open. This was going to take a while... Lelouch rolled his eyes, he could bet his spirit that Tamaki had forgotten the code.

"What room is yours?" Lelouch questioned, as he took a step backwards and went through the metal wall, his head still stuck out on the other side to look at Tamaki.

"It's on the deck, the second room on the left hand side."

Nodding, Lelouch fully emerged on the inside of the cruiser. If Lelouch wasn't a prince, there was no doubt in his mind that he would have fainted from the sheer beauty.

Dark marble stretched across the halls and into each room. It looked like the night sky with the lights reflecting off it's icy surface; as if they were stars outlining the milky way. Floating further down the hall, Lelouch stopped at the wide screen TV that covered an entire wall of the living room. The two walls that was on either side of the TV had several scrolls and other paintings that spoke of wealth. Lelouch would be lying if he said he wasn't just a bit envious of the beauty of the other scrolls. In this room, the marble cut off with a strip of wood, as the floor was taken over by several boards of tatami mats. In the front of the room was a grizzly bear skin rug, and behind it was a slab of dark wood with red cushions placed around it.

The thing about that dark slab of wood... it was floating...

'Splurge a bit,' was an understatement if Ohgi could afford that type of technology. Lelouch cautiously neared the floating slab of wood, it wasn't bobbing up and down, and if he hadn't known any better he would have believed that there was clear glass keeping it above the ground.

But Lelouch knew better than that. Before his mother died, Lelouch heard that the Japanese were making a new type of technology. That if given the chance it could have evolved into something greater than even Knightmares. Of course it never happened once Britannia declared war on Japan, but here it was, right before him.

The coffee table, for that is what it is, was not wood but in fact a large magnet. It was a mixture of the sakuradite with irons and other metals found in mining lands. If Lelouch had to guess, he'd say that the tatami mats were also laced with the same magnetizing metal, to keep the table suspended above the ground.

Shaking himself out of his stupor -not even the royal family had something like that- Lelouch floated passed the shoji door and into Tamaki's room. He had a scroll to hang up, and boxes to go through!

Slipping the scroll out of his pocket, Lelouch set it on Tamaki's desk. There wasn't any nails or hooks to hang his scroll up, so he would need to hammer a nail into the wall. Lelouch sighed, as he quickly began riffling through the boxes for anything that might help. As he went through Tamaki's things and began putting a few things away, he could hear the rest of the rebels enter the cruiser and head toward the living room.

Their shoes clicked heavily on the marble flooring, only to be muffled once they got into the living room. Even from Tamaki's room, he could hear them chattering about their new cruiser.

"So what do we do now?" one voice asked. By the sound of it, it was Yoshida.

"We kick Brit butt!" That of course was Tamaki. Lelouch inwardly groaned. When would Tamaki learn that every time he opened his mouth, he was only making a bigger fool of himself?

"Eventually, but we also need to worry about Zero," Ohgi said.

"Why would we need to worry about zero?" Kallen asked.

"Yeah," Minami agreed. "The guy just gave us a landcruiser."

"True, but how does he even know we are a resistance group?" Ohgi said with a serious tone. Lelouch could practically see the man look at each of his friends. Over time, Ohgi could become a perfect leader. He just required a guide, something Lelouch would be sure to do as Zero. After all, although Lelouch planned on leading the rebels he also had his own plans, and once he no longer needed the rebels, they would be in need of a new leader.

Lelouch pushed one of the now empty boxes, against the wall and moved onto the next box. His hands easily slid into the motion of putting things away, but at the same time he was _planing_. If Ohgi was already beginning to question Zero, Lelouch would need to make his next move soon.

"Although the land cruiser is nice, it might be bugged. Or even a trap," Ohgi said. "Have any of you told anyone about us? I need to know."

There was silence, and Lelouch guessed that everyone shook their heads.

"What about that Lelouch kid?"

Lelouch jerked his head up.

"Him? Hah, there's no way he's Zero," Tamaki laughed. "If he was, I would be the first to know." Lelouch let out a breath. For a second there, he was actually worried. The spirit quietly chuckled to himself. If being an idiot was Tamaki's weakness then his foolishness was his strong point.

Floating a bit higher, Lelouch looked at his handy work. It wasn't much different from Tamaki's old room. The desk and bed was the same. The only real difference was that it wasn't dirty and was much more spacious.

"Do you think we'll ever meet him? Zero, I mean?"

The innocent question traveled down the hall and into Lelouch's ear. "Sooner than you think," Lelouch said out loud. He knew no one would be able to hear him.

x~XXX~x

Lelouch wasn't lying when he said Zero would be meeting the rebels soon. It had been a day since the rebels moved into their new home, and Lelouch believed that it was as good a time as any to make an appearance. But first he had a bone to pick.

Lelouch might have given them the cruiser, and even wanted to work with the rebels, but he didn't want to be working with incompetent people.

Any soldier should know that when moving into an unknown place, they should always scan the place for bugs. The rebels didn't do that, they simply moved in. Another thing they didn't do was change the code to enter the cruiser. Not only that but they didn't set up any security measures. What were they going to do if someone entered the cruiser just because they refused to notice certain things!? It was like they were all a bunch of wannabe rebels with no experience! What did he need to do?

Hold their hand and tell them everything that they had to do?! They were older than him! The rebels should have at least some common sense!

If Lelouch hadn't changed the code to the cruiser, or scanned it for bugs, he was sure that the Britannian's would have tracked down the vehicle. Taking off the outer armor and painting the cruiser were important, but no nearly as important as making sure their home was safe!

Buttoning a dark cape to his costume, Lelouch landed both feet on the ground. He was going to make a point to these rebels. The hard way.

Plus he was bored...

Smirking, Lelouch pushed the helmet to his face as the metal plates slid into place. Taking one last look in the mirror, Zero straightened out his suit before opening the door to his room. It was one of the smaller rooms in the cruiser, but it wasn't like 'Zero' actually lived in it. Zero needed to live in that blasted scroll... which sucked...

Making sure to lock the door, Zero walked to the main room. It was midnight, so he wouldn't have to worry about anyone seeing him. Not that it really mattered since he was going to wake them up right... now...

A resounding boom echoed through the cruiser. Almost immediately waking up every living spirit within the vehicle.

Panicked shuffling and muffled curses could be heard from within each room, but Zero could care less as he cocked his gun.

"Come out now!" Zero ordered, "and I won't need to kill any of you." He watched with narrowed eyes as Ohgi was the first to come out of his room, holding a gun in shaky hands. Well at least the man had enough sense to come out armed. "And you are?"

"O-Oh-gi-gi K-k-kaname." This wouldn't do. Zero inwardly sighed, rethinking his entire plan of scaring the rebels even further.

"Well Ohgi, I must say that I'm a tad disappointed in your little group," Zero stated, just as the rest of the rebels opened their doors and aimed their guns at him.

"Who the hell are you!?"

And Zero just took back wanting to go easy on them. "A shield for the defenseless," Zero muttered. His eyes narrowed under mask. A few quick calculations and he easily swept his leg across the ground, tripping everyone except Tamaki and Ohgi. Taking one last leap, Zero put Tamaki in a head lock and aimed his gun at Tamaki's head.

"So tell me Ohgi, what are you willing to do in order to save this man's life?"

"Let him go!" Ohgi demanded, but was still hesitant to pull the trigger.

"Do you even know how I got in here?" Ohgi shook his head. "For starters the alarms were off. If you had put them on before everyone headed off to bed you would have been alerted of my presence." If Lelouch hadn't already been in the vehicle and wasn't a spirit. "Another would be that you haven't changed the code on the control panel. And that's only the beginning."

"What do you want?" Ohgi questioned.

"There's no sort of security. No camera's set up. Everyone has the same sleeping schedule, with no security what's so ever." Zero growled out the words as the other rebels slowly began to stand up. With each word that escaped Lelouch's lips, it seemed as if each rebel had come to understand that they were being careless. "So tell me rebels, what will you do to save this man's life?"

Zero cocked the gun. "Will you allow this man to die for your carelessness?"

The rebels ran at him.

He waited.

They roared.

He pulled the trigger.

*BANG*

Silence.

Everyone watched with wide eyes as Tamaki fell to all fours, shaking like a wet dog. Zero pocketed his gun and stuck out his hand. "I'm sorry my friend. It was unkind of me to scare you like that. I'm Zero."

"Z-zero?" Everyone repeated at once. They all took in deep and shaky breaths when they realized that Tamaki was still alive. In their eyes it was too early to loose yet another comrade.

"That's right." Zero slowly helped Tamaki stand up. "I didn't hurt you, did I? Are you okay?"

"Hah...hah. Yeah... I'm good," Tamaki breathed, trying to add his usual humor but failing miserably.

Under his mask, Lelouch was grinning widely. Not because he just got back at Tamaki, but because the man hadn't even demanded to be released. If Tamaki even opened his mouth and demanded something of him, Zero would need to pause in his actions and that would have ruined everything. In the future, he would need to be more careful around Tamaki. Especially now that he had an identity to hide.

"Why don't we all have a seat in the pallor? I bought some pizza."

Everyone nodded numbly as they slowly moved down the hall with Zero picking up the back.

"So you're Zero?"

"And you're Ohgi Kaname. 26 years old, born to Hatsuko Kaname nee Matsumoto and Ken Kaname. You also worked as a teacher at a high school before Britannia declared war on Japan." Zero looked toward Oghi. "Am I right?"

"Yes, but how did you know all of that? It's not like the Britannia's keep records of elevens."

"I have my ways," Zero shrugged as he took a seat and motioned for Ohgi to do the same. All seven rebels were seated around the magnetic table. Ohgi at one side, with Zero on the other. "Please help yourselves to the pizza, and don't worry I didn't drug it."

When no one reached for a pizza, Zero inwardly shrugged. Might as well get straight to the point then. "As you all know, I'm Zero, the one who gifted you with this land cruiser. And I must apologize for my rudeness a while ago, while I was only trying to prove my point, that isn't the reason I'm here today. I'm here to suggest a proposition. While I may have been able to establish my own spy network," because of spirit powers, "I'm only one person and can only do so much. I need a team willing to work with me to help us accomplish our similar goals; the freedom of Elevens and everyone else who has fallen to Britannia."

"Yeah? Well even with you, we'll only be eight people. What's eight people to an entire army?" Minami challenged.

"Enough to free an army's worth of Japanese slaves."

Naomi stiffened at his words. "What do you mean by that?" she hissed. "And how can we trust you if you're hiding behind a mask?"

"Yeah," Yoshida agreed. "It must be pretty easy, sitting there and judging us while wearing a mask. Lose the helmet and I'll consider helping you."

"I can't do that," Zero stated evenly.

"And why not?" Sugiyama growled.

"Because in less than a day I'll become a wanted man. And what's to say you won't turn your back on me once Britannia puts a reward for my head?" Zero asked. When he received no answer he continued. "I need people to help me with my goal. If you don't want to help, then that's fine. Just know that more people could have been saved if I had one extra hand to help me."

"I'll help."

"Kallen," Ohgi began, but seeing her intense gaze he stopped. "Me too," Ohgi sighed.

"Yeah, count me in," Tamaki mumbled.

"Thank you for your assistance," Zero nodded to the three of them. "The rest of you may leave, and maybe once I've proven myself I might have earned your trust."

The four rebels looked at their friends worriedly, but one look from Ohgi sent them all on their way. Once they were out of the room, the three last rebels looked toward Zero. "What would you like us to do... Zero."

"This," Zero said, setting a map on the table. "You three will travel down the sewers. Once you get here there will be several passages. From there you'll need to be very careful as to not get lost. Take the one that'll be exactly forty degrees from the entrance of the previous tunnel," Zero explained as he pointed at the map and showed them what paths to take. "Once you get here, you'll find a locked door. Use this key to open it. The room inside is a large chamber that holds at least a hundred Elevens. Once you get here one of you will need to lead them back to the surface. The other two will go further to the mining tunnels. These two won't need to go back through the tunnel, and you'll be able to release all of Japanese being kept there." Zero passed the key to Ohgi.

"How do you know all this?" Ohgi asked.

"I we-"

"How do we know it's not a trap!" Tamaki interrupted. "And where are you going to be through all of this?!"

"I'll be providing a distraction," Zero answered. "And I know, because I was down there once."

"You were a slave?"

Zero shrugged, he'd let the man imagine whatever he wanted. Besides, if Ohgi believed he was forced to work in the mines it might actually help them trust Zero more.

"Anyway, by the time the other two get to the mines, I should be done with my distraction. I'll come by to meet with the first person, then meet up with the other two."

"How do we know you aren't going to turn on us?" Ohgi questioned.

"Because there would be nothing in it for me. If I wanted to capture terrorists I would have gone after a bigger group."

"Why didn't you join a larger group, then?"

"Because, they already have experienced leaders, and you, Ohgi, are new at your job. I'm not looking to replace you as leader but help you become a better one," Zero answered truthfully. "And eventually I'll get those larger organizations to join us."

"What time do we set the plan in motion?" Kallen finally spoke.

"I'll begin my role at noon. You three will head to the sewers at one pm."

"That's insane! Why are we doing it during the day time!? We'll get caught for sure!"

"You won't get caught," Zero stated, and on the inside Lelouch was rolling his eyes. "If anyones going to get caught it'll be me. It's during the day because more soldiers are out at that time and I want them to all come to me. Plus the officers only go to the mines during night to make sure that all the Eleven miners are still doing their job, and to turn on the lights," Zero reasoned easily. His masked head turned toward the clock on the wall. It was already one in the morning. Exactly twelve hours from now the three rebels before him would start their first mission that could change the tides in the Japanese' favor for once. "Get some sleep. I'll see all three of you tomorrow at the mines."

x~XXX~x (the next day)

"Where are you?" Tamaki asked.

"At a Britannian hanger," Lelouch answered. That must have been the tenth time Tamaki asked that question in the past twenty minutes. How was he supposed to provide a distraction if Tamaki kept bothering him!?

"Why?"

"Because I'm trying to help Zero!" Lelouch growled. He swiftly moved through the different wires. "Ah, I need to go." Lelouch stuffed the radio into his coat as he pulled the last wire free. He grinned at his handy work. Sabotage was always his favorite part. He got to destroy things! With this the Britannians wouldn't be able to activate their Knightmares.

Slipping through the cockpit, Lelouch moved to the east hangers. He just needed to take care of the vehicles and he would be done! Well, he'd be done with the fun part. After this he would need to do the rest as Zero.

The halls lit up red and Lelouch looked up with wide eyes. NO!

"Attention men! We have discovered several of our Knightmares vandalized! Find the culprit and execute him!" Clovis' voice sounded over the speakers.

Lelouch growled in annoyance. That just made his job as Zero harder than it would have been! Phasing through several walls, Lelouch arrived at the east towers and quickly got to work. Instead of taking his time, like he had for the knightmares, this time Lelouch simply phased his hand through the metal and messed with whatever he could before moving onto the next vehicle. He really didn't have much time anymore.

Crimson lights blinked in and out of existence, as it practically screamed 'seizure!' at Lelouch. The sirens blasted throughout the building and echoed into the surrounding area. The noise and lights brought several nosy news reports to the premise as they all set up their cameras and waited for news worth gossiping about.

Flying through the building, Lelouch reached the top and quickly slipped into his Zero outfit.

Setting both feet on the ground, he fluidly approached the edge of the building. From way up here, the reporters and soldiers looked like mere ants. Lelouch smirked as the first reported caught site of him and aimed his camera at Zero.

"I am Zero. The bridge between the numbers and the Britannian's. We the numbers shall fight in the seas, land and sky. We will defend our families and take back what is rightfully ours. Whatever the cost may be, we will fight! We will fight in our homes, in buildings, in the ally, in fields, in public. We will fight, and never surrender. Today will be the turning point for all numbers!" With each word, his voice grew louder and Lelouch could feel his confidence rising for what he would need to do next.

Taking a deep breath, Zero leapt off the building, causing all the spectators to gasp and the soldiers to fire their guns. Thinking fast, Lelouch phased out of the costume before grabbing the clothing and wrapping it into his ghostly coat, making them entirely invisible but not before several bullets his his suit.

Lelouch looked down to see his brother, Clovis, glaring at the spot Zero was last spotted at.

"Let's see how he responds to his own people getting killed!" Clovis growled. "Bartley, bring the prisoners here for a public execution."

"But my lord they aren't-"

Clovis turned to the bald man. "Just do it!"

"What's happened to you brother?" Lelouch asked quietly as he looked down on the man. Clovis no longer sounded like the boy, Lelouch had once called brother.

Shaking his head, Lelouch ripped his gaze away from the blond. He could only hope that his distraction was big enough to keep all the attention on himself.

* * *

**A/N:** Hi guys! Long time no smell! Does anyone want to guess what's going to happen next? Oh and the next chapter is already done, and going through revisions! So expect a quicker update.


	10. Chapter 10: The Dead Prince

**The Boy In The Scroll**

Chapter 10: A Dead Prince and... school?

* * *

Lelouch stood in Clovis' shadow as the blond stared at the prisoners with cold blue eyes. It was a trap for Zero, and Lelouch could see that clear as day. As the minutes ticked by and turned into one hour than two a crowd began to form around the place of execution. The thirty or so Japanese all shook in fear as they knelt down with their heads bowed. All of them were wearing the same white suit with leather straps. No one should have to deal with the type of pain they were going through. By the look in their eyes, Lelouch could tell that everyone of them had given up hope and already saw themselves as dead.

Clovis motioned the guards to take aim. The allotted time was nearly over and Lelouch decided to not show up as Zero. The spirit sighed when guns were shifted and pointed at the defenseless people. It was now or never.

A knife slid out of Lelouch's sleeve and landed in his hand. For what he was about to do, Lelouch wished that someone would stop him. But no one did, so he stepped forward. Knife in hand, Lelouch allowed his hand to hover in front of Clovis' neck as he said a quick apology.

A glance, a flick of a wrist, one word, one death, it was enough to change the future. Enough to change the path that the world would have taken if that one action hadn't been made. And today the world would be thrown into an all out rebellion. A war for peace.

"Kill only if you're prepared to be killed. Good bye brother."

A single tear slid down Lelouch's cheek as he passed the knife through Clovis' neck. It was an instant death, the blonde didn't even know what hit him as his throat split open. Time seemed to slow as blood sprayed onto the pavement and sprinkled flecks of blood through Lelouch's spirit-like form. The spectators all shouted in alarm as they watched their third prince fall; and the news cast, though shocked, did their job and filmed the event.

Lelouch couldn't bring himself to look at the crippled form as the shouts began to get louder and louder and the people became hysterical. "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry," Lelouch whispered. His form shook like a leaf as the shouts became almost overwhelming. "I had to do it. You were going to kill innocent people. I had to. I'm sorry. I'm sorry," he repeated to himself like a mantra. If he waited a moment later, the boy was sure he would break down sobbing amidst the people. Lelouch didn't even bother to open his eyes as he flew toward the Japanese captives. He couldn't bother to let his feelings get in the way right now. A job still needed to get done.

Working with tear blurred eyes, Lelouch was eventually able to cut the prisoners free from their binds. Floating back to his Zero outfit, Lelouch quickly flew to a decent hiding spot before slipping the costume on. He stuck his head out from behind a wall and waved for the Japanese people to follow him. They all looked at him with confusion for a while before obediently standing up and slowly move to where he was.

"Why did you save us?" a woman asked. She seemed to be the oldest out of the group.

"Because you have done nothing wrong," Zero answered as he began leading them through and alley way and toward a stair case that let to an under ground base. Zero needed to be emotionless; he couldn't show his emotions because emotions was weakness. "I'll stop by tomorrow to make sure everything is okay with all of you and to drop off a few things. None of you are to leave until I come back tomorrow," he said with a strong voice as he swept his gaze over the crowd. He felt as if he was going to break any minute now. He needed to get out. NOW. "There should be enough supplies to last you for the night or even a week. Stay here," was his last warning as he retreated back the way he had come only to collapse five minutes later when sobs wracked his body.

He just killed his brother! Lelouch pushed himself against the wall as he phased out of the costume and hugged his legs to his chest. The first time he killed, all he felt was emptiness. The people at the harbor were his enemies. That was all to it. But Clovis... Clovis was his brother! They might have only been half brothers, but blood was still blood.

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry," Lelouch said, shaking with sorrow. He had to do it. He needed to kill Clovis. Lelouch shivered. So this was how the rebels felt when they lost Naoto... It must have hurt even more for Kallen considering she didn't have a seven year time gap away from her brother. She was strong... stronger than Lelouch at least. Just look at him! Crying like a baby for his mother! Hah, what a joke he was! He just started a war and didn't even consider the people that would be dying! Oh, Lelouch was a fool!

A small smile met Lelouch's lips, but it was forced and didn't feel real at all. It hurt, it really hurt and Lelouch didn't think he could convince himself otherwise.

x~XXX~x

Zero stared out of the window as he allowed himself a chance to breathe. It had been an incredibly long night, and the day was just as busy as when the moon lit the sky. Zero blinked at the sea of people before him. All of them Numbers, and all of them had almost given up hope.

To think that just the day before, their group of rebels had only comprised of eight people. Now it was well into it's hundred's and approaching a thousand. With the new lives that each number had been granted, almost all of them swore their loyalty to Zero... Lelouch didn't understand it. How could they easily swear their loyalty to him when they didn't even know who he was beneath the mask? How could they trust a murderer? A kin murderer!? For heavens sake, he killed his own brother! Wasn't that one of the worst crimes a person could commit? If murder was bad, then wasn't killing ones own kin worse? It was like the story of Abel and Cain in the bible, except this time Cain had killed a corrupted Abel.

Lelouch sighed, he feared that he would never understand the human race like he once had. Turning back to his laptop, Lelouch drowned out the booming shouts and crackling laughter of the people. Hacking the Britannian data base for what should have been the millionth time, Lelouch quickly added a name and fake information to the list of honorary Britannians. He was nearly done with this list of people. The next list involved hacking into criminal records and deleting the 'crimes' that the Numbers had committed. Most of them were silly. One person even got arrested for catching a child's ball! Yeah... that guy was _total_ criminal material... Lelouch needed to refrain from rolling his eyes.

Working for several more hours, Zero didn't glance up until he was done with the first list. More than a thousand people now had new lives with a clean sleight to start off with. Sadly smiling behind his mask, Zero closed his laptop and picked picked the stack of documents that had been printing through out the whole process. They were 'fake' records of the Number's new lives. Each of them would have their own ID's along with documents that they would need or that they requested.

Stepping out of his room, Zero flinched from the booming noise. It was much louder out here, than it was in his room. Avoiding the drunk Numbers, as best as he could, Zero slowly made his way to Kallen's room without being swept up into the drunken games and slurs.

"Kallen, can you do a favor for me?" Zero called over all the shouts as he knocked on her door.

Despite the booming music and the chatter of everyone, he could have sworn Kallen just mumbled a complaint. "What favor?" she grumbled as she opened the door. Kallen blinked at Zero's shoes for a while before slowly looking up to his masked face. She gasped. "Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't realize it was you, I thought it was someone else."

"That's understandable."

Kallen's face turned a light pink as she blinked up at him. "What's the favor?"

"Right," Zero nodded as he held out one of the smaller folders to Kallen. "I''d like you to take these to the Katsura Landmark. There's an underground base there and I promised the people from yesterday's execution that I would drop by today. Please give them my apologies. I can't go to pass out these papers to them, since I have other things to do. Also, invite them into our group and if they want to join then have them come back with you."

"Of course, Zero. I'll deliver these right now." Kallen nodded quickly as she tucked the papers into a brown messenger bag. If Lelouch wasn't so tired he would have found it odd how she jumped at every word he said. On a chess board she would be the ever so loyal queen.

Watching the red head leave, Zero figured it was time to talk to another red head. Even spirits needed breaks, and Lelouch's head already hurt from all of the hacking. Not to mention Tamaki would probably notice something if he didn't see Lelouch for a while. Ah, but he still had papers to hand out to each person... this was going to be a long night.

Sighing, Zero headed for Ohgi's room. It wouldn't hurt to give yet another person his job. In his defense Tamaki did it to him all the time! Lelouch deserved at least a small break. Right?

Zero knocked on Ohgi's door.

"Zero?" Ohgi asked through sleepy eyes.

"Pass these out to everyone. The papers are all in alphabetical order, by last name. It's the identification papers for everyone you rescued from the mines," Zero quickly explained.

"Oh, right. I'm sorry to have left you with all the hard work," Ohgi said sheepishly as he took the documents into his arms.

"It's no problem at all. If you need anything I'll be in my room."

Both males bowed their head to each other before walking in opposite directions.

Walking back to his room, Lelouch shed his Zero costume and floated through several walls before stopping before Tamaki's door.

Immediately the door swung open and the spirit jumped from the sudden motion. "There you are!" Tamaki grabbed Lelouch by the wrist and dragging him into the room. The man only released Lelouch's wrist after he closed the door. "Did you see what Zero did!?" Tamaki shouted.

Lelouch nodded. What did a guy need to do to get some rest around here? All Lelouch wanted at the moment was to curl up in his scroll and sleep.

"Do you know who he is?" Tamaki questioned as he looked at Lelouch with round eyes. The man didn't even wait for an answer before he shook his head. "The guy wasn't lying! I mean he actually saved enough people to make a small army. Isn't it amazing?"

"Yeah," Lelouch answered, but whether he was answering the first or second question, Tamaki didn't know. This wasn't a topic Lelouch was particularly comfortable with.

"So anyway, I've been thinking," Tamaki began. "Zero is making new identities for everyone. Why not add you to that list? He can make you an identity, and at the same time you could join the Black Knights."

Lelouch shot Tamaki a questioning look. "The Black Knights?" he repeated.

"Well, now that we're official we'll be needing a group name. Plus I saw it one of the boxes Zero brought in." Tamaki gave Lelouch a wolf like grin, "I don't think I was supposed to find out, but Zero bought a bunch of jackets for everyone who joined."

Oh, so that's how he knew. For a minute there, Lelouch was actually worried that Tamaki had found out about him. Then something else clicked. "Wait! Make an identity for me!?" Lelouch shouted, happiness and... worry mixed in his voice.

"Yep. It'll make introducing you to the other's easier. Just think about it. We give you a new identity, I allow you to be seen by people, and voila! You're a new person. We'll just need to sneak your name into Zero's list and introduce the two of you."

"Wait! Wait. Just wait," Lelouch breathed. He was beginning to feel light headed as he put a hand to the wall for balance. "You're letting me be seen? As in I'll have my own body?"

"Sure, it'll be the same like how it was for Naoto. Except this time you can choose if you want to be visible of not... So I allow you to be seen!"

Lelouch blinked, once than twice. He shook his head. This must have been a dream. It was too good to be true. 'I've killed my brother, and now I'm being rewarded... I've gone insane. That's the only conclusion,' Lelouch thought to himself as he repeatedly blinked up at Tamaki. The spirit could only guess that he looked to be on the verge of tears with all his blinking.

Tamaki grinned at the spirit, and took hold of his wrist yet again. "Let's introduce you to Zero!"

And his world came crashing down as Tamaki lead him through the crowd. A few suspicious eyes locked on Lelouch as he was obviously a Britannian, but the boy ignored it. He was begging to shiver, but whether it was from the happiness of being seen, or from the fear of his identity being found out, Lelouch didn't know.

"Ah, Tamaki I'm not sure that's such a good idea," Lelouch said shakily.

"Sure it is."

"He's busy, surely we can do this another time," Lelouch shivered. He was beginning to panic. No matter what, Tamaki could not find out he was Zero!

"You'll need to meet him if you want to join the new recruits, so we should get it over with right now."

"But doesn't Ohgi already know about me?" Lelouch asked, he was only grasping at straws now. They were getting closer to the room, and Lelouch hadn't bothered to lock the room. Oh god, he even left his disguise for 'Oliver' in that room, and the phone Tamaki had given him a while ago was also in there.

"Yes, but Zero's like our leader now," Tamaki shrugged as he reached for the door knob.

"Shouldn't we knock?" Lelouch asked, catching Tamaki's hand before he could touch the door.

"Nah, Zero and I are like pals! Besides he'll be grateful that we're distracting him from all that paperwork."

Tamaki twisted the door knob. God kill him now!

"Tamaki!"

Oh, thank you!

Tamaki turned to the voice and Lelouch let out an audible sigh of relief. He'd have to reward Ohgi for his perfect timing. Without waiting for any questions to be directed toward him, Lelouch slipped into his- Zero's room and locked the door.

Looking through the peak hole, Lelouch listened to their conversation.

"Who was that?" Ohgi questioned as he shifted the documents into his other arm.

"This is Lelouch," Tamaki said and motioned to the area Lelouch was in only seconds ago. His eyebrows scrunched in confusion when he didn't see Lelouch. "Well, that was him."

"He just went into Zero's room."

"Oh good, I wanted him to meet the boss," Tamaki said with his usual grin.

Ohgi raised an eyebrow, then frowned. "While, you're here you might as well help me pass these out," Ohgi stated as he pushed half of the documents into Tamaki's arms. It looked like he also wanted to add, 'since you have nothing better to do than fool around.'

Chuckling at the red head's misfortune, Lelouch moved away from the door and took a seat on the couch. He had some time to kill while Tamaki believed he was being 'interviewed' by Zero.

x~XXX~x

A month had passed since the Black Knights were formed. While they weren't public knowledge, the underground corporations knew about them and Zero was slowly planning his next attack to introduce the public of their presence. For know though, Lelouch was much more concerned with the current argument.

School. The bane of every teenager's existence.

"Why doesn't he have to go to school!? He's practically a free loader!" Kallen screamed as she pointed at Lelouch.

Said boy sunk farther into the couch he was sitting on, wishing that the couch would swallow him whole. Kallen was not a woman he ever wanted to be on the bad side on. Unfortunately for him, he was nearly always on her bad side. Lelouch blamed that fact on Tamaki.

"He's a good kid!" Tamaki argued back.

Lelouch groaned. If Tamaki was the only one backing him up, he was doomed! Ohgi shot a sympathetic look at Lelouch.

"So am I! And I still need to go to school!" Kallen shouted. She crossed her arms over her chest and turned her glare on Lelouch. "Well, do you have anything to say?"

Lelouch vehemently shook his head but stopped at the glare Kallen shot him. "I've never gone to school before..."

"Do you hear that? You picked up a snobby Brit, Tamaki. And a dumb one at that. He probably drop out of school!"

"You've never gone to school before?" Ohgi questioned, nearly shouted as he stared at Lelouch with wide eyes. "You're enrolling in school," he said after a while.

"W-what?" Lelouch stuttered. "B-but I can't. I'll be behind on everything!" Unlikely, Lelouch was a genius after all, but he had a corporation to run. Lelouch didn't have time to go to school! What type of spirit goes to school, anyway? The boy looked around the room for help, but all he got was a smug look from Kallen and shrug from Tamaki. That traitor!

"Well you'll need to start somewhere. It's best to start now, instead of waiting for several years. Besides without an education you won't have a life to live. Even if you are a Britannian it's unlikely that they'll help an uneducated kid," Ohgi reasoned and Lelouch had to admit the man had a point, but he didn't need to go to school! He was smart enough already. Besides... he was dead... or at least he thought he was dead. Perhaps Lelouch was just roaming spirit with some last wish that he could only accomplish on earth. He'd have to look into it later.

"But... but... b-"

"No buts, you're enrolling to school," Ohgi stated. "We have enough funds to pay for your education, so Kallen will take you to her school-"

"NO!" both teens yelled, they looked at each other before looking back at Ohgi. "I can't bring him to school!" "I'm not going to that school!" Kallen and Lelouch shouted at the same time, respectively.

"To bad," Ohgi said, leaving no room for arguments. "It'll be safer for the two of you to go to the same school. That way if anything happens you can help each other out. Plus Kallen has straight A's, so she can help you with your work Lelouch."

He didn't need help, damn it! If only Lelouch was like other ghosts and could posses people.

The boy groaned, here was Zero being told to go to school by one of_ his_ men. Didn't that sound a bit weird. It's not like the emperor's soldiers ever told the emperor to buy a brain! "I don't want to go," Lelouch grumbled, crossing his arms in front of his chest in a typical pouting pose.

"You're going and that's final," Ohgi stated

Kallen stuck out her tongue at Lelouch.

"Oh and I believe your first class starts in an hour, Kallen. The two of you should get going."

"What!? B-but I was going to call in sick!" Kallen yelped. Her mischievous grin turned to one of horror as she stared at Ohgi.

"And you've already missed most of last month," Ohgi shot back.

Lelouch grinned at Kallen's misfortune. "What about me?" the boy asked. "I haven't enrolled and I don't have the school uniform. Can I start next week... you know, to get prepared...?"

"No. You two are both going to school today. Lelouch, you can have an interview with the administration, and maybe you'll get lucky and can start going to classes this week. Kallen, your brother would have wanted to you to go."

"Alright fine," both teens said. One in an irritated voice and the other in defeat.

x~XXX~x

"The office is over there," Kallen pointed down the hall. "I'll be in this room if you need anything."

Lelouch nodded as he watched the red head walk to her class. Stealing himself, Lelouch took a deep breath as he headed to the office. This was the first time he was out in public without his bandages, and he hoped no one would recognize him.

"Hello?" the spirit asked meekly as he peaked his head through the door.

"Can I help you with something?" a brown haired woman asked. She was probably one of the teachers.

"I would like to enroll into this school."

"I'll need your school credits and any papers you have on extracurricular activities," the woman said as she spun her chair around to face one of the cabinets.

Lelouch grinned nervously as he took out his fake ID. "I've been homeschool all my life until recently when my parents passed away," he said

The woman stopped looking for...whatever it was she was looking for and jerked her head toward Lelouch. "I'm sorry, but if you don't have any transcripts than I'm afraid that you can't enroll here."

"Is there a way you can bypass that?"

"I'm afraid not. Now I'll have to ask you to leave."

"Okay," Lelouch bowed. Well that was easy! He couldn't go to school! He was so happy that he didn't even notice a person approaching him until said person was literally in front of Lelouch and squinting his eyes at the spirit.

"Hello my boy. I don't believe I've ever met you before."

Lelouch looked down, toward the voice. The wrinkly old man, was about a head shorter than Lelouch and had full head of grey hair. Anyone could tell by the suit the man wore that he was an important person and could offer anyone a great education if he wished it. Most students would have jumped at the idea to talk to the principle. The man was like a walking wallet! He could get anyone hooked up with the best universities and scholarships. Lelouch, however was a tad upset. Just when he thought he could get out of going to school.

"I don't believe I've met you either," Lelouch lied. Of course he'd met OldMan Ashford. "I was just talking to this beautiful young lady, about enrolling in this school."

"Oh?" Mr. Ashford raised an eyebrow. "What school are you transferring from?"

"None, I've been homeschooled my entire life."

"In that case, let's move into my office where I can interview you."

"Alright." Lelouch agreed as he followed the older man into a room. This wasn't good, he really hoped Mr. Ashford wouldn't recognize him. Right now the only thing that was keeping him from running was the fact, the man wasn't wearing his glasses.

"You know, you look a lot like Lelouch vi Britannia. The deceased eleventh prince."

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**A/N:** There's probably a lot of grammar errors in this chapter, more than usual anyway so if you guys see anything please shoot me a PM or something. I didn't feel like rereading this chapter... I'm not entirely happy with it, but here it is! ^^;

And thank you everyone who continues reading this story and reviewing. Just some shout outs to the allen walker, pft98811, lightshadow101, and... whoever this 'Guest' person is. 'Guest' whoever you are, can you please type in a name when you review? That way if there's multiple Guests with questions I don't need to number you guys... which will get a little messy. Also I just got 2 new favs and 4 alerts! For a total of six new people who're reading this story! Thanks for the support guys!

Next chapter will probably take longer. I have exams and a research paper to write, so I'll be busy. Sorry for the inconvenience.


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